{{short description|21st-century Catholic bishop}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = The Most Reverend | name = Charles Drennan | honorific_suffix = | title = Bishop emeritus of Palmerston North | image = Coat of arms of Charles Edward Drennan.svg | caption = | province = Wellington | diocese = Palmerston North | see = | predecessor = Peter Cullinane | successor = John Adams | ordination = 14 June 1996 | consecration = 11 June 2011 | cardinal = | rank = | other_post = | birth_name = Charles Edward Drennan | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|08|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand | death_date = | death_place = | buried = | denomination = Roman Catholic Church | residence = Palmerston North | parents = | spouse = | children = | motto = "caritas congaudet veritati" (love delights in the truth) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pndiocese.org.nz/bishop/bio/|title=Biography | Diocese of Palmerston North}}</ref> | occupation = Roman Catholic bishop | profession = Cleric | alma_mater = Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel, New Zealand<br>Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome<br>Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome | signature = | term_start = 17 March 2012 | term_end = 4 October 2019 }} '''Charles Edward Drennan''' (born 23 August 1960 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand Bishop who was formerly the second Bishop of Palmerston North, New Zealand, from 2012 to 2019. On 4 October 2019 he resigned his position. Two allegations of "unacceptable behaviour" of a sexual nature were made. An investigation by the Catholic Church's New Zealand Office for Professional Standards found that the behaviour was unacceptable for a Catholic bishop but not criminal in nature.<ref name=resig>{{cite news | work= New Zealand Herald | access-date = 6 October 2019 | date= 5 October 2019 | url = https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12273843 | title = Pope accepts resignation of NZ bishop over unacceptable sexual behaviour }}</ref>
==Early life== Drennan was raised by an Anglican father and a Catholic mother.<ref name="welcom1">{{cite journal |title=New bishop coming but not quite yet |journal=Wel-com |date=April 2011 |volume=282 |page=13}}</ref> He attended Ilam School, St Teresa's School (Riccarton), Kirkwood Intermediate School and Christ's College.<ref name="profile">[http://www.pn.catholic.org.nz/?sid=1760 "Bishop Charles Drennan", ''Diocese of Palmerston North''] (Retrieved 27 November 2014)</ref> 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.<ref name="welcom1"/>
After finishing university Drennan spent a three-year period travelling overseas and worked for a period in a Ryder-Cheshire 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.<ref name="Welcom">{{cite journal |url=http://welcom.org.nz/?sid=4 |title=Bishop welcomes new deputy |journal=Wel-com |date=March 2011 |page=12 |accessdate=6 March 2011}}</ref> He studied for the priesthood at Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel, for two years<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter Joseph |last=Norris |title=Southernmost Seminary: The story of Holy Cross College, Mosgiel (1907-1997) |publisher=Holy Cross Seminary |location=Auckland |year=1999 |pages=110, 112, 118, 121, 164}}</ref> before being sent by his bishop, Basil Meeking of Christchurch, to Rome to complete his training at the Pontifical Urbaniana University.<ref name="welcom1"/> He later took postgraduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University.<ref name="profile"/>
==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.<ref name="Welcom"/> He returned to New Zealand and served as a priest in the parishes of Hoon Hay and Timaru.
After Drennan's post-graduate study in Rome, he was on the staff 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.<ref name="welcom1"/>
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".<ref name="welcom1"/> At the request of 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, during which they discussed the Church in New Zealand.<ref name="welcom1"/> In Christchurch, Drennan held the title of Monsignor and the position of Diocesan Chancellor of the Diocese of Christchurch.<ref name="profile"/>
Drennan also held the positions of Administrator of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nzcatholic.org.nz/2011/02/26/christchurch-catholic-cathedral-partially-destroyed-in-earthquake/ |first=Michael |last=Otto |title=Christchurch Catholic Cathedral partially destroyed in earthquake |work=NZ Catholic |date=23 February 2011 |accessdate=23 February 2011 |archive-date=15 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515102542/https://nzcatholic.org.nz/2011/02/26/christchurch-catholic-cathedral-partially-destroyed-in-earthquake/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Parish Priest of St Anne's Parish, Woolston, and chair of the Council of Priests.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=979 |title=Council of Priests |publisher=Catholic Diocese of Christchurch |accessdate=25 February 2011}}</ref>
==Episcopacy== Drennan was appointed coadjutor bishop of Palmerston North by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2011.<ref>{{cite press release | access-date = 5 October 2019 | date= 22 February 2011 | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2011/02/22/0110/00258.html | language = it | publisher = Holy See Press Office | title = Rinunce e Nomine, 22.02.2011}}</ref> He chose as his motto ''caritas congaudet veritati'' (love delights in the truth), taken from the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13.<ref name="profile"/> He was consecrated on 11 June 2011<ref name="welcom1"/> in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pn.catholic.org.nz/?sid=1915 |title=Ordination of Monsignor Charles Drennan |publisher=Diocese of Palmerston North |date=1 June 2011 |accessdate=6 June 2011 }}</ref> His principal consecrator was his future predecessor, Bishop Peter Cullinane of Palmerston North and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop Barry Jones of Christchurch and Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn. Drennan succeeded to the see on 22 February 2012, upon the retirement of Peter Cullinane.<ref>{{cite press release | access-date = 5 October 2019 | date= 22 February 2012 | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2012/02/22/0110/00255.html | language = it | publisher = Holy See Press Office | title = Rinunce e Nomine, 22.02.2012}}</ref> His installation took place at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on 17 March 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pn.catholic.org.nz/?sid=2018 |title=Vatican Announcement — Bishop Charles Drennan succeeds Bishop Peter Cullinane as ordinary of the Diocese of Palmerston North |publisher=Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North |date=22 February 2012 |accessdate=23 February 2012}}</ref>
On 7 March 2015, Drennan joined with other protestors in a demonstration in Palmerston North in relation to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In a speech to the 500 protestors in The square, he said: "Absolute freedom is not in our interests." "It most certainly is not a right of global business interests to trump the duty of an elected government to govern a nation's economy in accord with the wishes of that nation's citizens." Drennan also denounced the secrecy of the TPP negotiations.<ref name="TPPA">{{cite journal | last =NZ Catholic staff | year =2015 | title =Bishop joins trade protest | journal =NZCatholic | volume =461 | issue =22 March 2015 | pages =1 }}</ref>
Drennan was a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania and a bishop member of the board of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office Ltd. He served as a member of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference Commission until his resignation in October 2019.<ref name="profile"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{wikiquote|Charles Edward Drennan}} {{commonscat|Charles Edward Drennan}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title= Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North|before= - |after= - | years= 2011–2012 }} {{succession box | title=2nd Bishop of Palmerston North|before= Peter Cullinane |after= John Adams | years=2012–2019}} {{s-end}}
{{New Zealand Catholic Bishops}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drennan, Charles}} Category:1960 births Category:21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in New Zealand Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent Category:Religious leaders from Christchurch Category:People from Palmerston North Category:Living people Category:Holy Cross College, New Zealand alumni Category:People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch Category:Pontifical Urban University alumni Category:Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Palmerston North