Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
2 Sep 2013
2 Sep 2013
Bishop William Brennan 1938-2013
The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell will join other bishops, clerics, priests, religious and parishioners on Friday, 6 September when the Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Wagga Wagga's St Michael's Cathedral for Bishop William Brennan who died on Saturday, 31 August.
The Most Rev Brennan, Bishop Emeritus and fourth Bishop of Wagga Wagga died at the Little Sisters of the Poor's Mount St Joseph's Nursing Home, Randwick on Saturday afternoon after an 11-year battle with ill health.
He was 75 years old.
Leading the many tributes to Bishop Brennan, His Eminence described him as a "game changer" and praised his "faith and courage" in establishing Wagga Wagga's seminary, St John Vianney College in 1992.
As a result of this the Diocese of Wagga Wagga now has the highest priest-to-people ratio in Australia and by far the youngest clergy, Cardinal Pell said.
While the average age of priests in most areas of Australia is over 60 in Wagga Wagga more than half the Diocesan priests are in their 30s and 40s.
Cardinal Pell said this was a wonderful and ongoing legacy.
"Bishop Brennan was a polymath and an interesting and outstanding bishop who was tough on himself and others," he said adding that his work and commitment to the Diocese of Wagga Wagga had led to a "Catholic revival" in the area.
Since news of his death broke on Saturday, tributes to Bishop Brennan, his dedication, his passion for God, progress and social justice, his commitment to Catholic school education as well as to training and retaining men of vocation for the priesthood, and to his life and work have been received by the Diocese of Wagga Wagga.
"He was a man of vision and showed a strong commitment to reaching out to those less fortunate than himself," says the Most Rev Gerard Hanna who was appointed Bishop of Wagga Wagga after Bishop Brennan suffered a brain aneurysm in 2001 and suffering severe ill health, was forced to retire the following year.
St Michael's Cathedral, Wagga Wagga where the Funeral Mass for Bishop Brennan will be held on Friday 6 September
"Bishop Brennan was committed to the idea that priests who spend their life working in country dioceses should be trained in the country, and to this end he built Wagga Wagga's St John Vianney College," Bishop Hanna said and described his predecessor as a man who when he saw something needed doing, "did something about it."
Establishing a seminary in Wagga Wagga in 1992, in what was considered a relatively small diocese, was initially greeted with scepticism not only from outside but inside the Church as well. At the time secularism was making major inroads into dioceses across the country, with fewer and fewer men entering the nation's seminaries.
If city seminaries were having trouble attracting men to train for the priesthood, what chance would a small country seminary have, the argument went.
Typically Bishop Brennan refused to heed the doomsayers and quietly but determinedly established the regional seminary and took over the reins as rector.
With an initial intake of nine student-priests, he ran St John Vianney College along strong traditional lines with an emphasis on rigorous scholarly and spiritual formation, daily Mass, prayers and reflections.
Teaching and living at the College while continuing with his busy schedule and commitments as Bishop of Wagga Wagga, Bishop Brennan forged links for the College with the adjacent Charles Sturt University as well as with the Pontifical Urbaniana University of Rome where he had studied as a young man.
Since those early days, the seminary has continued to thrive with accommodation at St John Vianney College having to be expanded twice.
Today the College continues to operate at capacity or near capacity with 20 seminarians currently in training as priests for the Wagga Wagga, Lismore and Armidale dioceses.
Bishop Gerard Hanna (centre) with seminarians and staff at St John Vianney College
In addition to founding St John Vianney College, Bishop Brennan was responsible for establishing St Francis' College on the Wagga Wagga campus of Charles Sturt University. Opened in 1998, St Francis College offers accommodation to Catholic students studying at the university.
The son of John and Elvie Brennan, Bishop Brennan was the second eldest of six children and grew up in Sydney's inner west. Educated by the Ursuline Nuns at Ashbury and later at the Christian Brothers College, Lewisham, Bishop Brennan trained for the priesthood at St Columba's College, Springwood. These studies continued at St Patrick's College, Manly.
An outstanding student, he was then handpicked as one of six Australians to study at Rome's Pontifical Urbaniana University.
Returning to Australia from Rome, Bishop Brennan undertook further studies at the University of Sydney and the University of New England and would eventually be awarded several degrees including a Bachelor of Arts (Syd), DipEd (University of New England), MLitt in Philosophy and Psychology (University of New England) and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (Urbaniana).
Ordained into the priesthood on 21 December 1960, Bishop Brennan was appointed Assistant Priest at Forbes and later at Broken Hill. He then took up the position as Director of Schools for the sprawling Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese.
Next came the appointment as Parish Priest to Nyngan and later, Wentworth which he combined with the role of Vicar of Education in the Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese.
Elevated to Bishop of Wagga Wagga on 16 January 1984, his Episcopal Ordination took place six weeks later on 1 March 1984.
Elevated to Bishop of Wagga Wagga on 16 January 1984, his Episcopal Ordination took place six weeks later on 1 March 1984.
Over his many years serving the Diocese of Wagga Wagga, Bishop Brennan also held various positions on the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference including Chair of the Bishops Committee for Industrial Affairs, the Australian Catholic Justice Council and Deputy Chair of Caritas.
He was also a member of the NSW Catholic Education Commission but it is his contribution to Catholic religious education that will be long remembered.
Not only did he insist that only Catholics teach religious education classes at Catholic schools but he rewrote the religious education syllabus for Wagga Wagga's Catholic schools which would later be adopted by schools across Australia and other English-speaking nations.
St John Vianney College, Wagga Wagga founded in 1992 by Bishop Brennan
Longtime close friend, Sydney priest Father John Walter who had known Bishop Brennan since they were both pupils at Lewisham Christian Brothers College more than 60 years ago, described the late prelate to the mainstream media this morning as "a trail blazer."
"He was resolute, prepared to swim against the tide and his courage gave heart to others," he said.
For himself, when asked more than a decade ago and before he became ill, how he would like to be remembered, Bishop Brennan cited an Italian proverb.
"The man who does something makes mistakes sometimes; the man who does nothing makes mistakes all the time," he translated and said he hoped he'd be remembered as the former rather than the latter.
The Reception of the Body and Vigil for Bishop Brennan will be held at St Michael's Cathedral, Wagga Wagga at 7 pm on Thursday, September 5. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held the following day at the Cathedral at 11.30 am. After the Mass of Christian Burial, the mortal remains of Bishop William Brennan, Emeritus Bishop of Wagga Wagga will be interred in the crypt beneath the Cathedral.
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