arewell F Bren - Cistercian Monks of Tarrawarra Abbey

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FarewellBren (continued from page 1)
tives and friends who attended. After
that, he seemed to have permission
to relinquish the long struggle
and follow. He was sixty. A friend
who was at Irene’s Requiem wrote
after Brendan’s death: “I hold a
wonderful memory of my last embrace
at his mother’s funeral when
he seemed so full of joy”. His funeral
Mass and burial in our community
cemetery on 20 April was
attended by over 300, drawn from a
large extended family, his personal
friends, the cattle confraternity, and
the many faithful friends of Tarrawarra.
We thank them all for their
prayerful and loving support of
Bren and us, his monastic brethren.
Brendan was born at Bacchus Marsh
on 18 November 1950, the son of
Tom and Irene (nee Egan) Gaynor.
He had only two siblings, Mary and
Bernadette. But there was a large
extended family, his mother Irene,
for instance, at her death was the last
of seventy-four first cousins. Was
there any Victorian Catholic family,
priest or religious he wasn’t related
to? The Gaynor family were dairy
farmers, a background to Brendan’s
widely appreciated farming expertise.
He joined the Carmelite Friars
at the age of seventeen, spending
three years with them. The Spirit,
however, seemed to be leading him
along a different way. When he was
discerning a Cistercian vocation
he wrote: “My Carmelite vocation
still means a lot to me and it seems
wrong to consider changing. I suppose
I have taken my vocation reasonably
seriously and all my ideals
and approach to life have become
Carmelite. Perhaps one of the strongest
things linking me to the Order
are the Carmelites that make
up the Order. I have grown
very close to them and have formed
some very wonderful friends among
them. So, you can probably imagine
the doubt that comes to me when I
am tempted to leave the Order for
another. And yet, I don’t think this is
my vocation. Basically, I think that
God wants me to serve him and his
People as a contemplative. It seems
to me that the hidden, simple life of
prayer, penance and poverty is more
my way of living out the Gospel. I
think it is this idea of simplicity in
serving God which attracts me most
towards your Order. Naturally, I
realise that even at Tarrawarra it is
not ‘simple’ to serve God but you
probably know what I mean”. Some
of his Carmelite friends from those
days joined us at his Mass and burial.
Brendan entered the Tarrawarra
community on 28 July 1970. He
received the Cistercian habit on 5
September that year. His first profession
as a monk on 16 September
1972 was followed by solemn monastic
profession on 8 December
1975. During those years he studied
in the community and developed a
love for early monastic literature.
He found his year of studies at St.
John’s University, Collegeville, in
the United States, an enriching experience.
The visit to the Holy Land
which was part of that course, together
with travel to Cistercian and
Benedictine monasteries in various
parts of the world, including Africa,
further rooted him in these traditions
he cherished. He would later
teach some segments of the monastic
spirituality course to more
junior members of the Tarrawarra
community. Feedback from his students
revealed their appreciation of
his knack of leading them to enjoy
those studies and to continue to
want to explore for themselves.
Brendan contributed to the life of
the community in other ways also.
At various stages he was on the Abbot’s
Council, the Finance Com-
mittee, the Liturgy Group. On the
finance side of things, he met regularly
with the members of our invaluable
lay Tarrawarra Advisory
Group. The farm, both dairy and
beef, claimed an enormous amount
of his working life. He has left a
spoken and lived testimony that
monastic work is not a necessary
evil but an integral part of our spirituality.
He was what is referred to in
twelfth century Cistercian literature
as “a lover of the place”.
The Yarra Valley and the Tarrawarra
property had a special claim on his
heart. His love for the place was not
merely romantic. He was committed
to practical care for the property
and the stock. He built on the great
work of those who laid the foundations
in the early decades. The pastures,
the tree plantations, and the
much sought after cattle that had
been so carefully bred, all speak
of his dedication. He had an amazing
knowledge of each beast and
its bloodlines. The cattle industry
recognised his expertise and demonstrated
this when he was taken to
Tasmania to judge in an Agricultural
Show, and was involved in many
Charolais events.
Over the years he struggled with
prolonged periods of both floods
and droughts. The most devastating
and traumatic challenge he had
to face was the bushfire of Black
Saturday 2009. It was the farm that
was impacted that day. The loss of
pastures, plantations, and fencing
was bad enough. But Bren’s greatest
trauma was to witness the suffering
of the sixty-three beautiful
heifers that had been burnt and had
to be put down. In the months that
followed his courage and endless
work to restore what had been destroyed
was incredible. This was a
very unromantic revelation of what
it meant to be “a lover of the place”.
May he enjoy the fullness of God’s
life and love.