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Diocese of GalwayKilmacduagh & Kilfenora

Deoise na GaillimheChill Mac Duach & Chill Fhionnúrach

Death of Bishop Emeritus Martin Drennan

Published on 26/11/2022
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Bishop Michael Duignan personal crest

Diocese of Galway & Kilmacduagh & Apostolic Administration of Kilfenora


Bishop Emeritus Martin Drennan26th November 2022

It is with sadness that we announce the death this morning of Most Rev. Dr Martin Drennan, Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus.

We remember him in our prayers and offer our sympathy to his family and to all those who mourn his loss.

I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. 
(John 11)

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
 

Funeral Arrangements for Bishop Martin Drennan, Doughiska Road, Galway

Originally from Piltown,Co. Kilkenny. Bishop Emeritus of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus of Kilfenora.

Peacefully, surrounded by his family. Dearly loved son of the late Martin and Mary, brother of John, Paddy, Jim, Michael and the late Willie, brother-in-law of Una, Bernie and the late Bridget. Sadly missed by family, nieces and nephews, Bishop Michael Duignan, Bishop Emeritus Brendan Kelly, priests, religious, the people of the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, and all to whom he ministered throughout his life of priestly service.

Reposing at the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas, Galway, from 7.00pm to 10.00pm on Tuesday 29th November. Funeral Mass at 1.00pm on Wednesday 30th November, in the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas, Galway, followed by interment there.


A Message from Bishop Michael Duignan on the death of Bishop Martin Drennan – RIP

Yesterday I received the sad news that Bishop Martin Drennan had died at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, surrounded by his loving family. I offer my sympathy to his family, to our diocesan community, and to his many friends.

Bishop Martin was a Kilkenny man to the core who took the West of Ireland to his heart. Even though he continued to avidly support the black and amber of his birthplace, Galway became his home and the people of the west became his new family and his dear friends. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ossory in 1968, his first appointments were to St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, and to Ballycallan parishes before returning to further studies.

Sacred Scripture was his passion. Fr Martin was to become an internationally respected academic, and taught with energy, passion and insight at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, as Professor of Old Testament. His was skilled at making the inspired words of the  ancient biblical texts relevant, powerful and life giving to the modern world.
In May 1997 he was appointed auxiliary Bishop in Dublin and in 2005 he succeeded Bishop James McLoughin as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. Bishop Drennan’s able intellect and innate pastoral sensitivity when combined with his gentle, prayerful, self-effacing presence served the diocese well. At the time of his retirement in 2016 on health grounds, Bishop Martin wrote:

“My eleven years here have been among the happiest and most fulfilled of my life. When I succeeded Bishop James McLoughlin in 2004 you, the priests and people of Galway, Mayo, and Clare, made me welcome. Since then, your support and kindness, your prayers and your affirmation, have been a real source of strength and inspiration to me. For this I will be forever grateful. It was a privilege to be your Bishop. From deep in my heart I say thank you. My retirement takes place during this Holy Year of Mercy and I sincerely ask forgiveness from anyone among you I may have hurt in any way during my time as Bishop. I offer my loyalty and my wholehearted support to my successor and I ask you for your continued prayers. You will always be in mine.”

The people and priests of the diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora will remember him fondly as a gentle, prayerful, kind and wise pastor. At a personal level, I will be ever thankful to Bishop Martin for his warm welcome to me on my recent appointment to Galway and for his wise counsel.

Throughout his life, and in particular in his later years of illness, he lived very much by the wisdom contained in the title of his last book - Turning Wounds into Wisdom - a series of reflections on the Sunday Gospels in which he endeavoured to turn the wounds of life into a wisdom for living.

Bishop Drennan’s episcopal motto was Comhoidhrí le Críost (co-heirs with Christ). Taken from the Letter to the Romans (8:17), here St Paul emphasises the sure hope of an eternal destiny that is the hallmark of a follower of Christ. I pray that God will now enfold Bishop Martin more deeply into his eternal loving embrace and grant consolation to his family and those who will miss him in this world.

A Easpag Máirtín, a chara dhil,
go bhfáiltí sluaite na n-aingeal romhat
go bhfaighe tú suaimhneas síoraí
agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís,
go gcoinní Dia i mbos a láimhe thú. Amen.

27th November 2022 - First Sunday of Advent