Many chapters comprise 49 years of priesthood for Father Brendan O’Sullivan.

As each chapter unfolded — whether as university chaplain, educator or pastor — he found fulfillment simply as a living witness of the Catholic faith to the people he encountered in his ministry.

“I’m grateful for the many opportunities I’ve had to serve and to apply whatever talent I have,” he says. “Every phase of my ministry has been very fulfilling. It wasn’t something so much that I looked for, as I was given. And whatever hesitation or concern I had at the beginning of an assignment, I grew to love that ministry.”

After serving as pastor of St. Anthony Parish in south Sacramento for the past 31 years, Father O’Sullivan, 74, will retire on Oct. 17. Father John Boll, current pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Woodland, has been appointed as his successor.

Known for his warm, genial manner, Father O’Sullivan says his relationships with people — from students to theologians to people in the pews — helped him carry out the spirit and content of the Second Vatican Council in his pastoral ministry over the decades.

His first thoughts about entering the priesthood were influenced by the priests in his home parish of St. Michael in the village of Cahermore, County Cork, in rural southwestern Ireland. The eighth in a family of six sons and six daughters, his family lived across the street from the church.

“The priests were frequent visitors to our home and I was very impressed with their caliber and character. We were friends,” he said in an interview in the rectory at St. Anthony. “Their example, their work and their ministry made the priesthood very attractive to me. They were educated, dedicated, good liturgists and good homilists.”

After attending a high school run by the Mill Hill Fathers in County Kilkenny, he decided before graduation in 1950 to enter St. Patrick’s Seminary in Thurles. He was ordained to the priesthood there on June 10, 1956, for service in the diocese.

His early assignments took him as an assistant pastor to St. Joseph Parish in Redding, St. Patrick Parish in Grass Valley and St. Joseph Parish in Fortuna (now in the Diocese of Santa Rosa).

He recalls with enthusiasm his time in Fortuna, 1959 to 1962, just prior to Vatican II, when “people were anxious for change.”

He began celebrating some parts of the Mass in English and went to parishioners’ homes during the week so they could “practice” hymns in English for the Sunday liturgy. “Those were times I can’t forget -- people were so excited about their new participation,” he said.

In 1962, he was named chaplain of the Newman Center at UC Davis, where he stayed for three years. The opportunities offered in the university setting meshed well with his intellectual curiosity.

“I absolutely enjoyed the profound discussions in professors’ homes that lasted into the early morning hours. There were seminars of the highest quality and I just loved it,” he recalled.

He returned to Sacramento in 1965 to serve for the next seven years as chairman of the religion department and a counselor at St. Francis Catholic High School, while also serving as chaplain of the Newman Club at American River College.

At St. Francis he taught sophomores to seniors, often with a focus on explaining the new documents of Vatican II. Students in one of his classes put on a play at California State University, Sacramento, on the primacy of conscience, inspired by the council’s historic document, “The Church in the Modern World.”

“I continue to appreciate these young women – how understanding they were, how welcoming, how tolerant, how indulgent when it came to my sense of humor,” he said, smiling at the recollection. “They were creative, intelligent, very interested students.”

During this time he completed a master’s degree in systematic theology through the summer program at the University of San Francisco. He also assisted his longtime friend, the late Msgr. Edmund O’Neill, in bringing Vatican II scholars from USF to Sacramento to make presentations and dialogue with the priests of the diocese. “That was really the beginning of continuing education of the clergy,” he said.

For one year, Father O’Sullivan took an assignment as a faculty member and director of campus ministry at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont and planned to study for a doctorate at Stanford University. Before he could enroll, he was called back to the diocese in September 1973 because of a shortage of priests.

Assigned to St. Joseph Parish in Clarksburg, a year later on Sept. 1, 1974, he was named the founding pastor of St. Anthony Parish in the growing Greenhaven-Pocket area of Sacramento.

In its early years, the parish consisted of a few hundred families meeting in a hall loaned by the Holy Spirit Portuguese Society. Three decades later, some 2,000 families make up one of the most active parishes in the diocese, with more than 30 different ministries in which laity are involved.

During his tenure, Father O’Sullivan oversaw the building of the church, religious education center and rectory, completed in 1979. In 1996, a two-year campaign culminated in the completion of a $2 million memorial center, a multipurpose facility utilized by parishioners and the surrounding community for many events.

Father O’Sullivan said he recognized early on how the familial character of his congregation and his own desire to consult and collaborate with parishioners of various expertise would set the tone for his pastorate. Today he is still modest in accepting responsibility for the vitality of the parish.

“I recognized the great gifts people had, the expertise they had, and I drew heavily on it,” he said. “I engaged in conversation, advice at meetings, and arriving at a consensus about which direction to go. The lay leaders taught me a whole lot about how to administer a new parish. They had these talents by profession and by vocation. I never felt threatened by an overuse of lay power, because it was something I never experienced here.”

After a moment’s reflection, he added, “I very much realized that I wasn’t above people, I was one of them. They became part of the family that I wanted to belong to, and they were a great security for me as well. When I would go on vacation, I always felt on returning that I was coming home. I always called it home.”

Longtime parishioners say their pastor’s enabling style of leadership provided the kind of vision that inspired people to become active, and to feel a sense of belonging and responsibility about their parish.

“His strength is leadership and being able to grow with people,” Deacon Rich Koppes, a member of St. Anthony for more than 30 years, said of Father O’Sullivan. “He’s not threatened by competent people and he brings out the best in them. He lets people know what the parameters are, delegates responsibility and let’s them run with it.”

Bob Slakey, a member of the parish finance council who has known Father O’Sullivan since he arrived in Clarksburg, calls him “a quiet leader and a soft-touch administrator.”

“He gives people a fair amount of freedom,” said Slakey, who meets his pastor every few weeks for breakfast at a neighborhood restaurant to discuss parish concerns. “He succeeds in getting people to do things, just with little suggestions and encouragement of favorable ideas.”

Billie Johnson, coordinator of administration and ministries, who has worked with Father O’Sullivan for more than 20 years, said the key to his success is “he’s a listener.”

“He’s very interested and asks for other people’s opinions,” she said. “He’s very balanced, fair and spiritual. He thinks about things and contemplates before he makes a decision.”

When the permanent diaconate was implemented in the diocese in the late 1970s, Father O’Sullivan “could see the value of deacons and wanted that for his parish,” recalled Deacon Jim Healy, who was in the first class of permanent deacons ordained in 1981.

“He’s always on the lookout for things that will benefit the parish,” he said. “It’s one thing to recognize and start things, good as they may be, but you also have to have the gift of working with people. He appreciates their individual charisms and talents. I would never hesitate to approach him on something that would be worthwhile.”

Father O’Sullivan said he’s never been afraid to encourage parishioners to discuss issues affecting parish life and the larger church, even if at times they are controversial. He is certain that a healthy church allows for such dialogue.

“It’s the only way to eventually reach people and teach people,” he said. “You can’t suppress free and open discussion.”

He is known for his gift of tying the Scriptures of the day into a thoughtful homily, often challenging laity to reflect on pressing issues facing the church and to assume responsibility for their faith lives and for civic participation.

Two Sundays before his retirement, in his familiar pulpit at St. Anthony, he urged parishioners to follow the proceedings of the current Synod of Bishops in Rome and consider whether the priest shortage raises questions about the church’s capacity to make the Eucharist and other sacraments available to the faithful.

“I couldn’t treat my homilies lightly,” he said in the interview. “I had to take time, out of respect for people and myself, to offer substantial nourishment, encouragement and hope.

“I did not set out to talk about controversial topics ever. But I didn’t back away from applying the Gospel to issues that were very much in the hearts and minds of people. Whatever application I made always had to come from the Scriptures, from the Gospel.”

His one concern about parish life today is that Catholics “who really have the faith may not come to liturgies as frequently as they have in the past,” he said. “There’s a real danger that something very precious, for lack of use, can be lost. But I do feel that the faith is very strong and very alive.”

While serving as pastor of St. Anthony, Father O’Sullivan has held other leadership roles in the diocese. These have included director of continuing education of priests since 1991, dean of the city deanery, a member of Council of Priests, chairman of the Priests’ Personnel Board, and an advisor in pastoral planning and the diocesan synod process.

“He’s greatly admired by the other priests,” said Father Michael Kiernan, chairman of the Council of Priests. “He’s been a great friend to priests and laity because he offers a listening opportunity and sound advice for many situations. He’s concerned for the church’s well-being and has the ability to critically analyze what is happening.”

His ability to bridge cultural and religious differences is recognized in the community, said Barbara O’Connor, professor of communication at California State University, Sacramento.

“As in his homilies, multiple levels of meaning are always apparent, and he has a unique ability to integrate and relate history, science, religion and philosophy to everyday events,” she said. “That makes him a much-demanded speaker and a valued friend of many leaders in Sacramento.”

As most any retiree anticipates, Father O’Sullivan looks forward to more leisure time for some of his favorite pursuits: walking, cycling, reading and enjoying theater and the arts. He will live in Sacramento.

“I want to live in the city that I’ve been attached to for almost the whole of my priesthood,” he said. “I’ll discern areas of ministry where I can really help, and on a limited basis I’ll help out in parishes where there’s a need.”

But he’ll miss interacting daily with parishioners in ways only a pastor can do.

“I could never cease to be amazed how people invited me into their very private lives in times of sadness and celebration. They trusted me with exceedingly confidential things about their own lives and families, and I really felt privileged and honored by the association.

“I’m really grateful for the gift of my priesthood,” he said. “It’s been a very rewarding experience.”

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