(California)
Fr. John Joseph Brennan, 93, died February 11, 2008 in Regis Infirmary, Sacred Heart
Jesuit Center,
Los Gatos. He
was a Jesuit for 73 years, an ordained priest for 61.
John was born in San
Francisco on December 10, 1914. After his mother’s
death in 1919, John was raised by an aunt in San Jose, California.
John went to public schools, but learned of the Society from the Jesuit pastor
of St. Joseph’s
Church, who tutored him in Latin for a year before his entrance.
John entered the novitiate at Los Gatos on July 30, 1934. He made first
studies at Mount St. Michael’s, Spokane.
He wrote to the provincial asking to be sent to the missions: “I have longed
with an ardent desire for the China Mission since my entrance into the Society
[and] have used the fifteen points of the [Evaluation Form on Those Petitioning
to be Sent to the Foreign Missions] for meditation.” His request was granted
and he was assigned to the China Mission in March 1941, arriving in China on
September 16, 1941. After language studies in Beijing
and a brief period of teaching English at Gonzaga
High School, Shanghai,
John and the other Americans were interned by the Japanese army at the Jesuit
theologate at Zikawei, Shanghai,
at the outbreak of World War II. John began theology studies under house
arrest.
At war’s end, John wrote to Fr. Provincial Joseph King,
describing his experience: “I would have written sooner, but the Japanese army
thought differently at the time…We were very fortunate here at Zikawei. Although
it was rather difficult to concentrate on theology at times, we never lost any
time. It was easier for those of us who are still in our studies…at times the
older fathers found the time a little long. [It was] a great blessing that
those in studies did not have to go to the internment camps. Once a month we
were permitted to have a picnic dinner on the veranda with our American group,
creating a real sense of family spirit. All are in good health.” He was ordained a priest at St. Ignatius
Church, Zikawei, on June 8, 1946, by Bishop Auguste Haouisée SJ.
John came back to the United
States and completed his fourth year of theology at Alma College,
followed by tertianship at Port Townsend, Washington, 1947-48. He returned to China and after brushing up on his Chinese in Nanjing, served as associate pastor at Christ the King Church,
Shanghai,
1949-53. With all foreign missionaries being expelled or jailed, John moved to Taiwan and took
up pastoral duties there. Except for the period 1964-66, when he served as
minister of the Jesuit community at Tien
Educational Center,
Taipei, John served in a number of small mission
stations in the Hsinchu region, and for a few months in 1968, at a Chinese
parish in Iloilo City, Philippines.
He returned to the United States
in 1968 as minister at Jesuit High School, Sacramento.
In August 1969 he was assigned as associate pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church,
Hollywood, were he served until his retirement
at Los Gatos in
2006.
John was a very apostolic man, always looking for an outlet
for his zeal. He was an outstanding parish priest, much beloved by his
parishioners. He was most concerned for the elderly and poor, the sick and the
shut-ins and was very devoted to his work in the confessional. In his free
moments he could be found tending the rectory garden. May he rest in peace.