Fr Brendan Joseph Patrick Murray was born on 22nd September 1932 at Louville, Ahascragh, Co Galway. He was educated at Ahascragh NS and St Joseph’s College, Garbally, Ballinasloe.
Brendan came to Dalgan in September 1950 and was an exchange student in the USA from 1953-56. He was ordained priest in Dalgan on 21st December 1956.
He was appointed to Korea and arrived there on 8th December 1957. After language studies he served briefly in Chunchon and later in Hoeng Song as curate before taking over as parish priest of Sam Chok (1961-63) and Yang Dok Won (1963-64). After home vacation he served in Hong Chun, followed by years in Pyong Yang and Jin Bu.
Brendan served in Yang Yang (1971-74) and Shillim (1975-79), before he was appointed to do promotion work in Britain (1981-85). After this he went back to Korea and served as Bursar in Seoul (1985-1990).
Appointed to Australia in 1990 he served as Bursar in Sydney until 1995. His next appointment was a House Manager in Solihull, Birmingham in Britain where he served from 1995-2003. Then he was appointed to the US Region to the Quincy House for two years.
Brendan returned to Dalgan in Ireland in July 2005 and helped to bring innumerable Columbans to hospital and clinical appointments.
He was predeceased by his young brother, Columban Fr Aidan in 2009.
A quiet, generous, pleasant man, Brendan’s wide range of appointments was an indication of his willingness to make himself available for any task that needed to be done. When his health began to deteriorate Brendan went to the Nursing Home in 2023, where he died on 16th January 2026.
May he rest in peace.
The funeral Mass for Fr Brendan can be seen here:
