Msgr. Timothy Brendan O'Sullivan

Msgr. T. Brendan O'Sullivan, a long-respected and beloved priest who served the Diocese of Sacramento from 1956 to 2019, died on July 17, 2019 at Mercy McMahon Terrace assisted living in Sacramento. He was 88. He retired from active ministry on Oct. 17, 2005 and was named Pastor Emeritus of St. Anthony Parish in Sacramento. He served as a priest of the diocese for 63 years, with 31 of those years as pastor of St. Anthony Parish in the Greenhaven-Pocket area. Vigil service will be held on Sunday, July 28 at 5 p.m. at St. Anthony Church, 660 Florin Road in Sacramento. Bishop Jaime Soto will preside at a funeral Mass on Monday, July 29 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Anthony Church. Father Daniel Looney will be the homilist. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery in Citrus Heights. Msgr. O'Sullivan was born and raised in the village of Cahermore, County Cork, in rural southwestern Ireland, eighth in a family of six sons and six daughters. He was ordained to the priesthood in Ireland on June 10, 1956 for service in the Diocese of Sacramento. His early assignments were as assistant pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Redding (1956-58), St. Patrick Parish in Grass Valley (1958-59) and St. Joseph Parish in Fortuna (1959-62). In 1962, he was named chaplain of the Newman Catholic Center at UC Davis and also assistant pastor of St. James Parish in Davis, where he served for three years. 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 to the Newman Club at American River College. During this time he also served as assistant pastor of St. Lawrence Parish in North Highlands and was in residence at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Carmichael and Immaculate Conception Parish in Sacramento. During this time, he completed a master's degree in systematic theology through the summer program at the University of San Francisco. In 1972-73, he took a sabbatical year and an assignment as a faculty member and director of campus ministry at the College of Notre Dame (now Notre Dame de Namur University) 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. 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 when he retired, some 2,000 families made up one of the most active parishes in the diocese. During his tenure, Msgr. 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 multipurpose facility utilized by parishioners and the surrounding community for many events. While serving as pastor of St. Anthony, he held other leadership roles in the diocese. These included director of continuing education for priests, dean of the city deanery, a member of the Presbyteral Council, chairman of the Priests' Personnel Board and an advisor to the permanent diaconate, in pastoral planning and the diocesan synod process. Msgr. O'Sullivan was named a prelate of honor by Pope Benedict XVI on Dec. 29, 2005. In his retirement, he lived in the Greenhaven-Pocket area and continued to celebrate Masses at Sacramento-area parishes, including several years at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Since 2014, he resided at Mercy McMahon Terrace and celebrated Mass for residents. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Mary, and eight siblings. He is survived by sisters, Anne Holland of San Jose, CA, Julia O'Sullivan of England and Tess O'Sullivan of Ireland; and numerous nephews and nieces.