RIP: 09/09/2021 - Milwaukee
Fr. Keith (Robert Francis) Brennan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 9 November 1940. Desiring to become a priest and religious, he entered the Society’s novitiate in Colfax, Iowa, in 1961, where he professed his first vows on 8 September 1962. He continued his studies at Mount St. Paul College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy in 1965. He taught for two years as an intern before completing his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest at St. Mary’s Parish in Landover Hills, Maryland, on September 4, 1970. Fr. Keith’s principal apostolates were parish ministry in different settings and administration at various levels. He served as associate director of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious in Silver Spring. At different times, he was Director of Communications and Planning, of Renewal and Ongoing Formation, of the Temporarily Professed Salvatorians, and was a leader on committees and in Chapters. He greatly encouraged the development of the “Salvatorian Associates” - later to be called “Lay Salvatorians”. Working closely with the teams leading the Associates, the Sisters and the priests and brothers, efforts towards greater collaboration between the three branches of the Salvatorian Family increased enormously. He served as Area Coordinator of the Society, as Regional Moderator of the Salvatorian Family, and as a member of numerous international committees of the Society, diocesan boards and inter-religious associations. Fr. Keith retired to Tucson, Arizona, in 2008, where he assisted in local Salvatorian ministries as he was able. Increasing health problems that began to affect him prompted his move in 2017 to Alexian Village in Milwaukee, where many of the Society’s retired members lived. Due to serious health problems, Fr Keith opted to receive palliative care on 9 September 2021, just hours before his death. He celebrated the Anointing of the Sick with his fellow Salvatorians and died peacefully that night. He was 81 years old and had been a Salvatorian for 59 years.
