Officer turns in badge for clergyman’s role

PORTLAND — After 25 years, Deputy Chief John S. Brennan is retiring as a police officer and becoming a clergyman.

Brennan, 48, is one of nine Catholics ordained as deacons, first to complete a four-year program begun by the Diocese of Portland. The idea was to give church members a new option for full-time ministry and to also offset a serious shortage of priests.

Deacons are empowered to preach, baptize, comfort the sick and counsel the distressed. They cannot perform sacred rituals such as consecrating the Eucharist.

The newest deacons earned a master’s degree in pastoral theology. Maine has 10 other deacons, all ordained in other states.

In addition to Brennan, the new deacons include a school principal, college professor, retired game warden, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and manager of a blueberry farm.

Brennan sees a natural transition from lawman to cleric. Cops, he said, are “in a profession where your whole day is involved in helping people.”

And, he added, “You need a strong faith to survive. Otherwise, how do you hold a 2-year-old rape victim in your arms, as I did? How do you face fatal car accidents? How do you deal with the fact of women viciously abused by their husbands?”

Brennan also served alcoholics, the poor, and the homeless. “We worked with the same classes of people that Jesus frequently identified with.”