St Michael’s Cathedral in Wagga Wagga was filled to capacity on September 6 at the funeral Mass for former bishop of the diocese, William Brennan, who died on August 31.
Fourteen other bishops from around Australia concelebrated the Mass, including Parramatta’s Bishop Anthony Fisher OP and Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell.
During his homily, Bishop of Wagga Wagga Gerard Hanna said his predecessor had finally been released from his suffering.
“The last 12 years of his life speak of how these bodies of ours can become a place of restriction and confinement,” he said.
“Death through the eyes of faith, can be seen as the unloosing of the shackles, the end of bondage.”
Bishop Hanna, who succeeded Bishop Brennan in 2002, said Bishop Brennan was a faithful disciple of Christ.
“This apostle was not a passive spectator in the arena of life, he was a vigorous participant, throwing himself into every activity with all his soul” he said.
“A good and committed life in an indifferent world leads to conflict. Our brother William knew that conflict. He bore in his being the commitment and the courage to face it.”
Bishop Hanna said the Wagga Wagga Catholic community was forever indebted to the life and example of Bishop Brennan.
“He was indeed a valiant man and a faithful soldier of the cross,” he said.
“William Brennan stood for decency and justice; he promoted progress in the community and through the wider Church.
“He filled with distinction whatever post the Church, national and local, asked him to serve.”
A letter from Pope Francis was also read to the congregation, in which the Holy Father conveyed his condolences and gave thanks to God for Bishop Brennan’s life and for his priestly and episcopal ministry.
William John Brennan was born at Arncliffe in NSW on February 16, 1938, and was the second eldest in a family of six.
He was ordained on December 21, 1960 and served in a variety of roles before his appointment as the fourth Bishop of Wagga Wagga on January 16, 1984.
Bishop Brennan served the NSW diocese for almost 20 years, until a brain aneurysm in 2001 forced his retirement in 2002.
For the next 11 years Bishop Brennan battled illness. He was aged 75 when he died at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s nursing home in Randwick.
He is perhaps best remembered for founding the diocesan seminary of St John Vianney College in Wagga Wagga, which opened in 1992. After requiring an expansion of its accommodation twice, the seminary has operated at full capacity for several years.
The Wagga Wagga diocese now has the highest priest-to-people ratio in Australia, as well as the youngest clergy.