Overcoming temptation to quit helps UKZN’s oldest graduate obtain PhD at 88

A study of the church environment and recommendations to encompass the poor and the environment as a way of life resulted in the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s oldest graduate, 88-year-old Vincent Brennan, being awarded his PhD in theology on Thursday.  

His thesis examined the different callings of the church in a Christian community. 

Brennan’s involvement in the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) influenced him to conduct the in-depth examination of Christianity. 

His purpose in undertaking the study was to help the church in Southern Africa and beyond to “shed whatever elements of clericalism that existed and to find a way of making sure the theology of communion became embedded in the life of every diocese and each parish”. 

Juggling work and studying was difficult for Brennan and he faced the recurrent temptation to abandon the project. However, he said the encouragement from his supervisors, Prof Susan Rakoczy and co-supervisor Prof Herbert Moyo, allowed him to complete the study.  

“Both left me very free to pursue my own research, but I felt challenged in a refreshing way by the experience and questioning and suggestions of two people whose background and training and life experience were very different to mine,” he said.

Looking at the nature of the church as a community of missionary disciples, he explored its situation of being divided into an elite clergy and a passive lay people, as well as stewardship as a manner of translating the community model of church into a way of life. 

His thesis also examined the nature of the call to discipleship “extended to all who follow Christ, as well as the kind of leadership demanded by a community model of church”. 

“These efforts bore little fruit. I felt it important to reflect in a structured way on this varied experience and suggest what can be learnt from it. Without this kind of theological reflection, the church will continue to do the same thing in the same way and get the same results,” Brennan said.  

Brennan said his study provides a theological foundation for stewardship to help other churches look critically at their stewardship programmes, “steering away from an exclusive emphasis on fundraising and broadening it to being a way of living as disciples, all called, all gifted. 

“I hope too that it will benefit all society, as stewardship is not limited to the inner life of the church but accepts responsibility for all people, especially the poor and those denied their rights as well as responsibility for planet Earth and its future,” he said. 

Brennan hopes to translate his findings into a user-friendly publication that will be widely available within the Catholic Church and to other churches that struggle with similar clericalism and lay passivity. 

“My advice to my fellow travellers is that they deal with this as they do with every temptation: pray not to be overcome by it and carry on.”

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.