Mark E. Brennan

Last updated
His Excellency, The Most Reverend

Mark Edward Brennan
Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston
See Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
AppointedJuly 23, 2019
Predecessor Michael J. Bransfield
Orders
OrdinationMay 15, 1976
by  William Wakefield Baum
ConsecrationJanuary 19, 2017
by  William E. Lori, Edwin Frederick O'Brien, and Donald Wuerl
Personal details
Born (1947-02-06) February 6, 1947 (age 76)
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Previous post(s)
Education Brown University
Pontifical Gregorian University
MottoLiving the truth in love
Styles of
Mark Edward Brennan
Coat of arms of Mark Edward Brennan (Wheeling-Charleston).svg
Reference style
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Bishop

Mark Edward Brennan (born February 6, 1947) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who is bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia. He was installed on August 22, 2019. [1] [2] Brennan previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 2017 to 2019.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Mark Brennan was born on February 6, 1947, in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended public elementary and junior high schools before attending St. Anthony Catholic School in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor's degree in history in 1969 from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. [3] [4]

By the time he graduated from Brown in 1969, Brennan had decided to become a priest. He completed one year of philosophy studies at Christ the King Seminary in Buffalo, New York, before entering the Pontifical North American College in Rome in 1970. He earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1973 and a Master of Theology degree in 1974 from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. [3] Brennan was ordained to the diaconate on May 10, 1973, in Rome. [5]

After returning to the United States, Brennan served diaconal assignments at the following parishes:

Priestly ministry

Brennan was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Washington by Archbishop William Wakefield Baum at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington on May 15, 1976. [6] After his ordination, the archdiocese assigned Brennan as parochial vicar in the following Maryland parishes:

In 1985, the archdiocese sent Brennan to the Dominican Republic and Colombia to study Spanish language and their cultures for one year. After returning to Maryland, he was appointed parochial vicar of St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda. After two years at St. Bartholomew, Archbishop James Aloysius Hickey named Brennan as the director of priestly vocations. He would hold that position for the next ten years. [4] [5]

Brennan was named pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Washington in 1998. That same year, the archdiocese appointed him to the College of Consultors for a three-year term. In 2003, Brennan was transferred to the pastorate of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He remained at St. Thomas until his consecration as bishop. [4]

Brennan's other archdiocese posts included:

Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore

Coat of arms as auxiliary bishop of Baltimore Coat of arms of Mark Edward Brennan.svg
Coat of arms as auxiliary bishop of Baltimore

Pope Francis appointed Brennan as auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and titular Bishop of Rusibisir on December 5, 2016. [5] He was consecrated at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore by Archbishop William E. Lori on January 19, 2017. [7] [6]

Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston

On July 23, 2019, Pope Francis named Brennan as bishop of Wheeling-Charleston to succeed Bishop Michael J. Bransfield. [8] Bransfield had retired in 2018, having received Vatican sanctions "for financial crimes and sexual harassment". [9] Brennan was installed at Wheeling's Cathedral of Saint Joseph on August 22, 2019. [1] Asked in 2019 to comment about Bransfield's personal spending using church funds, Brennan said:

Self-indulgence by a bishop, a pastor or anybody else by the Church is just not right. That’s the people’s money. We’re supposed to use the resources people give for the good of the mission of the Church. That’s the point of collecting all of these funds. We’re not supposed to be using the resource of the Church for self-indulgent purposes, and that can take many different forms. [10]

On November 26, 2019, at the request of Pope Francis, Brennan submitted a plan of amends to Bransfield that called for the repayment of $792,000 to the diocese. Bransfield had previously failed to submit his own plan of amends to the Vatican. [11] In August 2020, the diocese settled a lawsuit brought by several men who had accused Bransfield of sexual assaulting them. The details of the settlement were not released. [12]

In 2022, having reached age 75, Brennan submitted his resignation to the Vatican as bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, as dictated by canon law. However, as of January 2024, Francis has not accepted it. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia</span> Catholic diocese of Philadelphia

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore</span> Archdiocese of the Catholic Church; premier see of the United States

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in northern and western Maryland in the United States. It is the metropolitan see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond</span> Latin Catholic jurisdiction in the United States

The Diocese of Richmond is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in Virginia in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Rigali</span> American Catholic cardinal

Justin Francis Rigali is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth Archbishop of Philadelphia, having previously served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 1994 to 2003, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2003. Following a sex abuse probe into the Catholic Church, Cardinal Rigali resigned in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington</span> Latin Catholic jurisdiction in the United States

The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church for the District of Columbia and several Maryland counties in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston</span> Latin Catholic jurisdiction in the United States

The Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory – or diocese – of the Catholic Church comprising West Virginia in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson</span> New Jersey diocese of the Catholic Church

The Diocese of Paterson is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in northern New Jersey. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Newark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William E. Lori</span> American Catholic bishop

William Edward Lori is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the 16th archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland since 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrose Maréchal</span> French-American Catholic prelate (1764–1828)

Ambrose Maréchal, P.S.S. was a French-born Sulpician priest and prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Farrell</span> Irish bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church

Kevin Joseph Farrell KGCHS is an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal and has served as prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life since 2016. In 2019, he was appointed Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael J. Bransfield</span> American bishop, former convicted sex offender

Michael Joseph Bransfield is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Bransfield served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia from 2005 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard William Schmitt</span>

Bernard William Schmitt was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia from March 29, 1989, to December 9, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Francis Malooly</span> American prelate

William Francis Malooly is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Malooly served as the bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware from 2008 until 2021. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 2000 to 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry C. Knestout</span> Catholic bishop

Barry Christopher Knestout is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Knestout has been serving as the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christie Macaluso</span> American prelate of the Catholic Church (born 1945)

Christie Albert Macaluso is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut from 1997 to 2017. Since 2017, he serves as auxiliary bishop emeritus of Hartford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell T. Rozanski</span> American Roman Catholic bishop

Mitchell Thomas Rozanski is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in Missouri since 2020. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts from 2014 to 2020 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 2004 to 2014.

John Joseph Swint was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling in West Virginia from December 1922 until his death in 1962. He was auxiliary bishop of the same diocese from May to December 1922.

Joseph Howard Hodges was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston from 1962 until his death in 1985. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia from 1952 to 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Parker</span> American Roman Catholic bishop (born 1972)

Adam John Parker is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland since 2016. Parker has also served as vicar general and moderator of the curia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael William Fisher</span> American priest of the Catholic Church

Michael William Fisher is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who currently serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo, having been installed on January 15, 2021. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington.

References

  1. 1 2 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "Installation Mass of Bishop Mark E. Brennan Starting at 2:00 PM". YouTube .
  2. ↑ "Pope Francis Announces Appointment of Bishop Mark E. Brennan As Ninth Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia" (PDF). Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Gunty, Christopher (December 5, 2016). "Nomination as auxiliary bishop took Monsignor Brennan by surprise". Catholic Review. Archdiocese of Baltimore. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Biography of Bishop Mark E. Brennan". Archdiocese of Baltimore. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pope Names New Auxiliary Bishops of Baltimore, Accepts resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Madden | USCCB". www.usccb.org. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  6. 1 2 "Bishop Mark Edward Brennan [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  7. ↑ Zygmont, Erik (January 19, 2017). "'Let us rejoice and be glad': Two ordained as auxiliary bishops for Baltimore Archdiocese". The Catholic Review. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
  8. ↑ "Rinunce e Nomine, 23.07.2019" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  9. ↑ Feuerherd, Peter (20 July 2019). "West Virginia bishop formally disciplined by Pope Francis". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  10. ↑ "Bishop Brennan ready to mend a wounded West Virginia Church". Our Sunday Visitor. 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  11. ↑ "West Virginia diocese seeks $792K from disgraced bishop". AP News. November 26, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Diocese Settles Lawsuit Accusing Ex-Bishop of Sexual Assault". www.courthousenews.com. Retrieved 2022-04-16.
  13. ↑ Novotney, Steve (2023-07-29). "Bishop Mark Brennan: Filling a Role for His Flock" . Retrieved 2024-01-09.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Wheeling–Charleston
2019–Present		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
–
 Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore
2017–2019		Succeeded by
–
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.