- Charles Drennan
-
Charles Edward Drennan
Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North
2011Personal details Born 23 August 1960
Christchurch
New ZealandCharles Edward Drennan (born 23 August 1960) is the Catholic Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North.[1]
Contents
Early life
Drennan was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand to an Anglican father and a Catholic mother.[2] He attended St Teresa's School (Riccarton), Kirkwood Intermediate School[2] and Christ's College. At St Teresa's, the nine-year old Drennan was introduced by a teacher to the book Promises to Keep by Dr Tom Dooley about the Vietnam War. This book impressed Drennan, who was even then thinking of becoming a priest, with the notion of service.[2]
As a young man, after finishing university, he spent a three-year period travelling overseas and worked for a period in a Ryder-Chesire home in India for tuberculosis patients, special needs adults and children whose parents had leprosy. There he made the decision to become a Roman Catholic priest.[3] He studied for the priesthood at Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel for two years[4] before being sent by his bishop, Bishop Meeking of Christchurch, to Rome to complete his training at Propaganda College.[2] as well as later undertaking postgraduate studies there.[1]
Priesthood
Drennan was ordained a priest in Rome for the Diocese of Christchurch on 14 June 1996. Drennan also became an Ascribed Rosminian - he belongs to the Institute of Charity (Rosminians) as a diocesan priest.[3] He returned to New Zealand and served as a priest in the parishes of Hoon Hay and Timaru.
After his post-graduate study in Rome, he was on the staffs of Holy Cross Seminary and Good Shepherd College in Auckland. He was then invited to work in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State where he spent seven years. His main role was writing speeches and talks for the Pope. Drennan's period there covered the final years of Pope John Paul II and the election and first four years of Pope Benedict XVI.[2]
Drennan said that working at the Vatican was "intense, finely focused and hugely stimulating. I met some wonderful people there - priests and lay, working in the Vatican".[2] At the request of Christchurch Bishop Barry Jones, Drennan returned to Christchurch in 2010. Just before leaving the Vatican, he accompanied the Pope on a visit to the Czech Republic (26–28 September 2009), during which they discussed the Church in New Zealand.[1] In Christchurch, Drennan held the title of Monsignor and the position of Diocesan Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch.[5]
He also held the positions of Administrator of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral,[6] Parish Priest of St Anne’s Parish, Woolston[1] and chair of the Council of Priests.[7]
Episcopacy
Drennan was appointed as Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2011 to assist current Bishop Peter Cullinane in the governance of the diocese until Bishop Cullinane's retirement after he turns 75 years of age on 29 November 2011. The changeover is expected to happen early in 2012.[1][8] Charles Drennan was ordained bishop on 11 June 2011[2] in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North.[9] His principal consecrator was Bishop Peter Cullinane and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop Barry Philip Jones of Christchurch and Archbishop Mark Benedict Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn.
Catholic Church titles Preceded by
-Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North
2011 -Succeeded by
-External links
- Catholic Hierarchy website profile of Bishop Charles Edward Drennan (retrieved 14 March 2011)
References
- ^ a b c d e Pope appoints new Catholic bishop for Palmerston North, Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North website (retrieved 23 February 2011)
- ^ a b c d e f g "New bishop coming but not quite yet", Wel-com, April 2011, Issue 282, pg. 13
- ^ a b "Bishop welcomes new deputy", Wel-com, March 2011, pg. 12 (retrieved 6 March 2011)
- ^ Peter Joseph Norris, Southernmost Seminary: The story of Holy Cross College, Mosgiel (1907-1997), Holy Cross Seminary, Auckland, 1999, pgs. 110, 112, 118, 121, 164
- ^ Msgr Charles Drennan profile at Vatican Information Service
- ^ Michael Otto, "Christchurch Catholic Cathedral partially destoyed in earthquake", NZ Catholic, Wednesday 23 February 2011 (retrieved 23 February 2011)
- ^ Council of Priests, Catholic Diocese of Christchurch (retrieved 25 February 2011)
- ^ Catholic Hierarchy website, Bishop Charles Edward Drennan (retrieved 14 March 2011)
- ^ "Ordination of Monsignor Charles Drennan", Diocese of Palmerston North website, 01 June 2011 (retrieved 06 June 2011)
Brian Patrick Ashby • Leonard Anthony Boyle • Matthew Joseph Brodie • Denis George Browne • Colin David Campbell • Henry William Cleary • Thomas William Croke • Peter Cullinane • John Jerome Cunneen • Reginald John Delargey • John Atcherley Dew • Owen John Dolan • Paul Donoghue SM • Charles Edward Drennan • Patrick James Dunn • Edward Russell Gaines • John Joseph Grimes SM • Denis William Hanrahan • Barry Philip Jones • Edward Michael Joyce • John Patrick Kavanagh • Robin Walsh Leamy SM • George Michael Lenihan OSB • James Michael Liston • John Edmund Luck OSB • Patrick James Lyons • John Mackey • Max Takuira Matthew Mariu SM • Peter Thomas Bertram McKeefry • John Basil Meeking • Patrick Moran • Stuart France O'Connell SM • Hugh John O'Neill • Thomas O'Shea SM • Jean Baptiste Pompallier • Francis William Mary Redwood SM • John Hubert Macey Rodgers SM • Owen Noel Snedden • Walter Steins SJ • Michael Verdon • Philippe-Joseph Viard SM • Thomas Stafford Williams • James WhyteCategories:- 1960 births
- 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops
- New Zealand Roman Catholic bishops
- New Zealand religious leaders
- New Zealand people of Irish descent
- People from Christchurch
- People from Palmerston North
- Living people
- Former students of Holy Cross College (New Zealand)
- Former students of Christ's College, Canterbury
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