Photo by Derek Redd The Most Rev. Mark Brennan, Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, talks with the diocese's incoming bishop, the Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, on Friday at the diocese's Chancery offices.

The Most Rev. Mark Brennan came to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in 2019 as its new bishop with a mission to rebuild the trust the community once had in the diocese’s leadership. The Wheeling-Charleston Diocese had fallen into tumultuous times under the previous bishop, Michael Bransfield, and Brennan was tasked to restore the local church.

The way to re-establish trust, he said, was to be someone who actually was trustworthy.

Since August 2019, Brennan has worked to rebuild trust and the diocese’s role as the bedrock of this community.

Now Brennan’s journey as bishop has ended. Pope Leo has accepted his resignation, the diocese announced Friday morning.

Brennan, 79, was joined Friday at the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese’s Chancery offices by the Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, the incoming bishop.

When asked to look back at his fondest memories leading the church, Brennan said that he will always cherish his time among the people of West Virginia.

“It’s what I’ve done at other places, and I think it’s been important just to get around and be with people, not just stay in an office, so I’ve tried to do that,” he said. “We have some wonderful people. Down south, there are fewer Catholics, but they have a strong faith, including the young people. They want to live their faith and are a good example.

“I think that’s something I will remember so much, is being with all the people and how many good people I’ve met doing good things.”

Catholic bishops are required to submit their resignations at age 75, as Brennan did at that age, though they are typically not immediately replaced. Brennan told the audience assembled Friday morning that he learned of his future last Saturday while at the gas station.

“I’m at the Sunoco station on 29th and Chapline when I get a call from the papal nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre,” Brennan said. “He said, ‘Well, I opened the mail this morning and there was a letter from Rome. You are welcome to step down as the bishop of the Diocese.'”

Brennan came to the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese after spending nearly three years as the Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore. He arrived at a diocese in upheaval. The previous bishop, the Most Rev. Michael Bransfield, had been forced to resign following allegations, and later findings in the Bransfield Report, of lavish spending, inappropriate behavior and more.

Brennan admits the beginning of his tenure was difficult, but after a year, things started to turn around. He focused on returning the Diocese to Christ-centered teachings and greater transparency. He made the Diocese’s audits available to the public and reinstated the diocesan pastoral council, a lay-people advisory group that Bransfield had dissolved.

“I’ve tried to show that people could trust me to preach the Gospel, to manage affairs without thinking of enriching myself,” he said. “So I think I’ve made some progress and convinced people that they can trust their bishop.

“And that’s important,” Brennan continued. “The bishop has to have the trust of his people in order to have an effective ministry.”

Brennan’s ministry, from his joining the priesthood in 1976 through his journey to becoming bishop, will reach its 50-year milestone on May 15. He plans on sticking around Wheeling for a while before moving to Charleston. Yet his religious work won’t stop there. He said he has told Menjivar he is willing to help “as much or as little as needed.”

“I won’t be a shadow,” Brennan said, “but I’m available.”

And he’s happy to do it for the new bishop who he has known for more than 30 years and met when Menjivar was just starting his journey into the priesthood.

“This man is a good, good person,” Brennan said, “and he will love and serve our people.”