Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Rev. Robert Brennan, dedicated advocate for the poor, dies at 84
Rev. Robert John Brennan / Courtesy of Missionary Society of Saint Columban in Korea
By Baek Byung-yeul
The Rev. Robert John Brennan, a New Zealand-born Catholic priest who dedicated six decades to serving the urban poor and marginalized in Korea, died Saturday. He was 84.
According to the Missionary Society of Saint Columban’s Korea branch, Brennan died at 4 a.m. at a nursing home in Seoul.
Also known by his Korean name Ahn Gwang-hoon, the priest was a towering figure in the nation’s social welfare history and was recognized as a "godfather to the poor."
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1941, he joined the Missionary Society of Saint Columban in 1959. The organization is a prominent international Catholic missionary society that has been active in Korea for decades.
He was ordained in 1965 and arrived in Korea the following year. He spent his early years in the Diocese of Wonju in Gangwon Province, where he witnessed the devastating effects of high-interest private loans on local residents. To combat this, he established the Jeongseon Credit Union in 1972. He also opened the St. Francisco Clinic to provide affordable medical care.
His activism extended to human rights during the dictatorship in the 1970s. In 1974, he actively participated in the movement to release Bishop Daniel Tji Hak-soun, who was imprisoned for his pro-democracy activities.
In the 1980s, he moved his mission to Seoul. During the rapid urban redevelopment of Mok-dong in Yangcheon District, the priest provided shelter in his church for local residents who had lost their homes.
In 1992, he lived alongside residents in the hillside shantytowns of Mia-dong in Gangbuk District for years, sharing their hardships until he became too sick to work.
Koreans thanked him with many special awards for his lifelong service, including the Seoul City Social Welfare Award in 2012 and the Asan Award in 2014.
In 2020, the Korean government granted him honorary citizenship in recognition of his exceptional contributions to society. Upon receiving his Korean passport, he remarked that Korea was not just his second home but his true home.
"He lived as a true shepherd who smelled of his sheep," the Missionary Society of Saint Columban said in a statement. "He stayed by the side of the powerless and the excluded until his final breath."
A funeral mass will be held at Myeongdong Cathedral in central Seoul at 10 a.m., Tuesday. He will be laid to rest at the Baeron Holy Ground in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, a place he personally requested for his final resting place.