The Bishop completed St. Mary's Cathedral in 1845, and eliminated the diocese's $5,000 debt from his own resources and the contributions of members of his family. The founder of Catholic education in Chicago, he established University of Saint Mary of the Lake and Saint Xavier University, as well as the first parochial school. He also introduced into the diocese the Sisters of Mercy from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including Mary Francis Xavier Warde. He held the first diocesan synod and was the first American bishop to establish theological conferences. It was also due principally to Quarter's efforts that the Illinois General Assembly passed in 1845 the bill according to which the Bishop of Chicago was incorporated as a "corporation sole" with power to "hold real and other property in trust for religious purposes." During his four-year-long tenure, he founded 30 churches and ordained 29 priests.