Page 16 - LOTN Advent issue 57

OBITUARY

Fr Chris Brannan RIP
1945 — 2024

ishop Hugh Gilbert OSB celebrated a Requiem
Mass at St Mary's Cathedral on Friday 4
October for Fr Chris Brannan.
B In a moving homily for a devout and devoted
priest Bishop Hugh gave the following address:
"Today we are saying farewell to Fr Chris Brannan, man
and priest. We are remembering him, thanking God for
him and praying that he may reach the fulness of life in the
glorified Christ. We are doing for him what, as Catholics, we
do for all the departed in every Mass. And this Eucharistic
link is somehow very apt for a priest, whose life is always so
entwined with the Eucharist.
He was born and brought up in Glasgow, educated at St
Aloysius’ College and graduated in law at Glasgow University.
It was his profession that brought him north, working here
on the interface between law and social work. Indeed,
it brought him very near here; his office was in Golden
Square. Thus began a long association with this Cathedral
which comes to its end today. He would have come to Mass
here and later said that it was in the Chapter Room, before
the Blessed Sacrament, that he received his vocation to the
priesthood. The mother church of the diocese brought forth
a priestly son. After four years of study at the Beda College
in Rome he was ordained priest here on 30 June 1983, aged
37 – a late vocation by the canons of the day. And so began
his 40 years of priestly ministry. he was praying he’d meet a priest timeously. He landed and
They would be passed exclusively on the eastern side of there in the departure lounge sat Fr Chris, about to fly
our expansive coast-to-coast diocese. Initially assistant off somewhere, who of course obliged. It’s a simple story,
priest here, he was moved two years later to St Francis, but for not a few people Fr Chris managed to be precisely
Mannofield, and the Holy Trinity, Westhill, serving there the right person at the right time. He had a sense for the
for 15 years. There followed six years in Fraserburgh and individual, and couples, in distress. He was always open to
Peterhead and then in 2006 a return to this Cathedral, with those apart from or disaffected with the Church. He could
the added role of parish priest of Sacred Heart, Torry. He mobilise his professional background and be of decisive
also became Dean of the City Deanery. The Cathedral is help to people undergoing difficult passages. I’ve heard this
never an easy appointment and in 2012 he received what often. He valued too relationships with Christians of other
was to be his final appointment as Parish Priest of Banchory persuasions. He had a sense of God’s mercy and of all that
and Upper Deeside. There he remained until encroaching St Paul said in our 1st reading. He believed in the love of
dementia called for retirement, Latterly, he was cared for at Christ which could break through the walls. And he had
Northcote Lodge and then Tor-na-Dee Care Home where a soft spot for life’s repentant thieves. It was almost a joke
he died after a fall on 13 September, aged 78. how often he preached on the prodigal son. As he began
And what of the man and the pastor? I found Chris to tell the story of a father with two sons, the cynic in one
somewhat of an enigma, but an enigma with aura, stubborn would think, oh, he’s failed to prepare a sermon yet again.
and pliable, vague and directive all at once, gregarious and He probably had. But there was more to it than that.
something of a loner, engaged and distant, and no stranger And that’s the more we hope for him now, as we remember
to depression. Administration was never his forte, but if and thank. May this mother church complete its ministry
he were to walk into this cathedral now, we would sense and bring him healed and whole into eternity. “Jesus,
and recognise him at once. He could be exquisitely pastoral remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He was
and hard going for bishops. His time in parishes was not fond of the Taizé chants and so for him and with him let’s
without conflicts and he was not always right. But one story sing the prayer of the repentant thief. “Jesus, remember
I heard recently somehow captures how the Good Shepherd me…”
could play himself out in him. A priest on one of our island Fr Chris' ashes were buried at the cemetery at Kirkton of
parishes was coming south to Aberdeen. Being the only Skene, next to those of his sister.
priest on an archipelago, he had been a long time without May he rest in peace.
confession and was anxious to remedy this. As he flew down,

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