Born in New York City in 1930, Msgr. Dermot Brennan attended Corpus Christi Parochial School, Cathedral College and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie and was ordained in 1956. His ministry has included teaching for 12 years in archdiocesan high schools, 12 years as an assistant pastor and 25 years as a pastor, 5 at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Mt. Vernon, NY and 20 at St. Patrick's Parish in Yorktown Heights, NY. He holds a Master's Degree in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia U, conducted the music for the papal Mass at Yankee Stadium in 1979, and has authored a book on using visuals in children's homilies and performs Magic as a hobby. He is currently retired from parish administration but is still very active in priestly ministry.
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Msgr. Dermot R. Brennan served for 20 years as pastor of St. Patrick's in Yorktown Heights. It's a large parish in the hills of northern Westchester County that had 3,400 families on its rolls when he arrived and 4,750 when he retired in 2005. There was no shortage of work for a pastor to do.
One Sunday evening a woman called to complain angrily that she had been late for Mass because the schedule had been changed. The changes had been well publicized, but she said she'd been away at the time. Msgr. Brennan tried to calm her, to no avail. Finally she asked, "Besides saying Mass every day and going to the hospital once in a while, what do you guys do all week?"
In answer, he wrote a book. Your Parish Priest: A Man of Mystery offers a thorough and engaging look at the daily life of a praish priest and the spirituality that supports it.
That phone call, of course, wasn't the only reason Msgr. Brennan wrote the book. In a conversation, he told me that he wants to help restore respect for the priesthood in the wake of the abuse scandals, which caused so many to be pilloried because of a few. He writes that lesss than 2 percent of Catholic priests in the United States have been accused of wrong-doing, and even though "one case of sex abuse is one too many," that means 98 percent of priests are living their vocation faithfully.
Msgr. Brennan also said he's very concerned about the drop-off in seminary enrollment and he hopes the book might inspire some young men to open their hearts to God's call. The word "mystery" in the title refers both to the sacred mystery of priesthood and to the mystery of what a priest does between Sundays. "The idea of the book and the title came one time while I was at prayer," he said. "I didn't think a moment about it."
The first part of the book deals with the priesthood itself as a sacrament. There are chapters on who's called and what the qualifications are. The chapter on the sacraments will give readers a clearer understanding of what the sacraments really mean and the chapter on celibacy shows why it's a benefit and a gift to the Church and the people.
The second part deals with the priest's many roles: as counselor, spiritual director, evangelizer, working with young and old, with the poor, the outcast, the sick; juggling the details of parish administration.
There are many anecdotes. Some are touching, like the story about the young woman who came back to confession after 10 years away and wept tears of joy. Some are sad, like the story about the drug addict who couldn't turn her life around. All shed light on what it means to care for people as a priest.
Msgr. Brennan told me that most priests he knows are happy. "They're focusing on helping people grow closer to the Lord in as many ways as they can," he said. He added that priests are "the best recruiters" of future priests.
A couple of weeks ago I came across a nasty cartoon in The Journal News that mocked the priesthood by suggesting that there are almost as many "defrocked" priests -- read "abusers" -- as there are faithful priests. It was bad enough as a cheap piece of anti-Catholicism, but it also annoyed me because it maligned the whole priesthood. And in my life, I've met many fine priests and some who are extraordinary. God alone knows the good they do, and the wounds they heal, and how many souls they save.
If you want a real look at the priesthood, read Msgr. Brennan's book. Then pass it on to a young man who you think would make a good priest, and maybe someday he'll give you his blessing. --Claudia McDonnell in Catholic New York.
We have begun the Year for the Priest, and it has been very interesting to see how many books on the priesthood are being offered by various publishers at the moment. Of course one can only be delighted to see this. The books range from theological studies to sociological ones, and I am pleased to say that many of them are aimed at giving some real encouragement to Catholic priests at this time. I am sure I don't have to tell anyone that we priests have been through a particularly tough several years, a time of criticism and scandal. After such a trying period, some of these books are especially welcome.
Recently, Msgr. Dermot Brennan, a good friend of mine who is a retired pastor of the Archdiocese of New York, wrote such a book, Your Parish Priest: A Man of Mystery (published by ST PAULS / Alba House, 2187 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10314, 1-800-343-2522, 220 pp. $14.95). I read this book not long ago and enjoyed it very much.
I would suggest that if you're looking to read one of the new books about the priesthood, that this would be a good selection. Your Parish Priest: A Man of Mystery is appropriate reading material not only for any priest, but also for a seminarian or a potential seminarian. Obviously, it can also be enjoyed by friends of the priesthood, and I even suspect that those non-Catholics who wonder what a priest is like, might find much to think about here.
Among the many things that Msgr. Brennan deals with well in the book is the perennial question: "What does a priest do from Sunday night until Saturday morning?" This is a question that many of us have been asked so many times, that we'd like to scream, and I must say that I am very grateful to Msgr. Brennan for answering it so fully and beautifully. He carefully explains the long list of duties that clergymen in general are called upon to perform, the ones Catholic priests share with other members of the clergy, no matter what their denomination, tasks concerning counseling, consoling, instructing, and generally being there for people. He then speaks eloquently of the sacramental life of the Church -- the things that sharply distinguish the priest from the clergy of other Christian bodies -- the things that are the most essential part of the priest's identity.
Your Parish Priest: A Man of Mystery is, of course, in part, a memoir. This has become a very popular form of writing over the past few years, and it is basically a form of autobiography. If you are a priest reading this book, you will surely find elements of your own life reflected in Msgr. Brennan's. Every priest will see in this book something of his own memoir, even though he may never have thought of writing one.
Finally, Msgr. Brennan goes through the different spiritual matters that every priest must be attentive to if he wants to continue to grow toward God That this part of the book is brief doesn't surprise me. Its brevity is indicative of the fact that many priests are hesitant to speak of their own spiritul lives. One can understand why this may be the case, although I have been convinced for many years that most priests lead very authentic spiritual lives so long as they have not surrendered to distractions or to a certain kind of self-hate and rejection. We must not forget that even a priest struggling with serious personal problems may have a very real spiritual life. It is important for all of us during this Year for the Priest to quietly recognize our relationship with the unseen (but often deeply felt) presence of Jesus Christ in our lives and to remember that Christ constantly speaks to us powerfully through and in the words of the Gospel. This, after all, is what makes a priest -- in Msgr. Brennan's words -- a man of mystery. --Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. in the September 2009 issue of The Priest
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