By Bill Brewer
Fellow priests and deacons, friends, and loved ones gathered on June 20 at Holy Spirit Church in Soddy-Daisy to remember Father Bertin Glennon, ST, during a memorial Mass celebrated by Monsignor Al Humbrecht, pastor of Holy Spirit.
Father Glennon, a longtime priest in the Diocese of Knoxville who was a member of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity religious order, passed away on May 21. He ministered in Chattanooga during much of his priesthood.
Among Father Glennon’s roles in the diocese were as parochial vicar of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul and clinical director and founder of the Center for Individual and Family Effectiveness in Chattanooga.
A funeral Mass for Father Glennon was celebrated on May 28 at St. Joseph Church in Fort Mitchell, Ala., where the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity have long had a presence.
Concelebrating the memorial Mass at Holy Spirit were Father David Hamm, ST, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Fort Mitchell; Father David Carter, rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga; and Father Jim Vick, pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Dayton.
Father Hamm also served as the homilist.
Assisting at the Mass were Deacon Hicks Armor, who served as deacon of the Word, and Deacon Jim Bello, who served as deacon of the altar.
And Dr. David Rose, a Chattanooga clinical psychologist who was a colleague of Father Glennon and a close friend, delivered a eulogy.
In his homily, Father Hamm said he first met Father Glennon in 1962.
“Some of you might remember 1962,” he said in a lighthearted reference to the older memorial Mass attendees. “I was a freshman in high school. He was a freshman in college. We both became Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. So, even though we did not live together, except for seminary and the past year and a half at Holy Trinity in Alabama, our paths crossed often at community meetings, retreats, and so forth.”
“I want you to know that I once replaced Father Bertin. I say that knowing that replacing such a unique person is an impossibility. But I did it,” he added with a sense of pride … and relief.
He explained that when Father Glennon was assigned to Manchester, Ky., in 1975, he was sent to Kiln, Miss., “to replace” Father Glennon.
“You know how engaging Father Bertin was. He was always friendly and making friends. He always had his greeting, ‘HOW ARE YA?’ And he really did want to know how you were doing. He had become friends with some of the young adults at Annunciation Church in Kiln. They would periodically go visit him. … They would drive to Manchester, Ky., almost 10 hours away, stay the weekend, and then drive home to be back at work on Monday,” Father Hamm shared.
He used that example to show that people were drawn to Father Glennon as a young priest and then through his entire priesthood.
“As you know, God gave him the gift of a life for 80 years. And Father Bertin was full of life. Indeed, in our faith we know that we come from God and are going to God. And times like this, the death of someone we know and love, help us to remember just how precious life is, how precious Bertin’s life was, and how precious is each and every life,” Father Hamm said
He noted that the congregation was gathered at the memorial Mass, which was a memorial for Jesus Christ giving His precious life for Father Glennon and everyone.
Father Hamm shared that Father Glennon struggled with Parkinson’s disease for over a decade.
“It obviously affected him, but it did not define his life. He continued to work at the clinic here in Chattanooga, to help out in the local parishes until a year and a half ago, and then he came to Holy Trinity, where I am, not to retire but to help. And he did until he fell in church on Holy Thursday,” Father Hamm said.
Father Hamm pointed out that Father Glennon celebrated Mass every Sunday, and sometimes Saturday, too, and he heard confessions at parishes in the Fort Mitchell area for Lenten and Advent penance services.
“And they wanted him to come back, which is an interesting thing. They never asked me to come back,” he joked, drawing laughs. “The priests asked me to come back, but the people never asked me to come back.”
Father Hamm shared that as Father Glennon was receiving medical attention for his disease during the spring, Father Hamm asked Father Glennon what the retired priest wanted.
“His answer was, ‘To help you out.’ That was the answer,” Father Hamm said.
The St. Joseph pastor informed the congregation that Father Glennon desired to be a priest from an early age. He said Father Glennon followed that dream by going to Holy Trinity in Alabama in 1958, where the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity have a presence.
“Through his formation over 13 years, his goal was not to be a priest and say, ‘Hey, look at me. I made it.’ Rather, his goal was to be a priest for those in need, and to reach out and touch people’s lives for the Lord Jesus,” Father Hamm said.
Father Hamm, whose homiletic refrain was from John 15:16, “It is not you who chose Me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,” looked out over the congregation and exclaimed, “Here we are. Some of the fruit. Some of the fruit of Bertin’s work, his life, his ministry.”
Father Hamm said that although Father Glennon resided and ministered in Chattanooga for about 30 years, he was part of the lives of many more people in other parts of Tennessee and the country.
The Holy Trinity priest said he was amazed at the amount of mail Father Glennon received from well-wishers around the country who were impacted by his ministry.
He also pointed out that “Bertin was not a monk. He loved being out with people,” and his life experiences included fishing, hunting, brewing, kayaking, dining, talking about dogs, and meeting people.
“There is one other thing I want to mention. Father Bertin was thankful. He was very thankful and appreciative of anything that you did for him. I would take him to the store, and when we got back, he would always say, ‘Thank you.’ I took him to the doctors, and it was, ‘Thank you.’ I fixed his phone, which really was just putting it back to the home page. ‘Thank you…,’” Father Hamm noted.
“So, we come together this evening, and we are thankful for the gift of Father Bertin. He touched our lives. Now, we are to follow his example and touch others with the gifts God has given us,” he added. “Father Bertin leaves a legacy for us to appreciate and follow. Now he is with the risen Lord, where in our faith we say, ‘Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ God bless you, Father Bertin.”
Monsignor Humbrecht then offered a concluding prayer before the eulogy, “Having received the sacrament of salvation, we implore your kindness, O Lord, for Father Bertin, your servant and priest, that as you made him a steward of your mysteries on earth, so you may bring him to be nourished by their truth and reality as unveiled in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
In his eulogy, Dr. Rose said he first met Father Glennon in 1999 in the basement of All Saints Academy, a former school building and former home to ministries of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, where Father Glennon started his nonprofit counseling ministry.
“We hit it off pretty well,” Dr. Rose recalled. “A friend of mine in the Department of Children’s Services said, ‘You need to meet this man. He is our saving grace. He helps people. He is trusted. He is reliable. And he can help us with families that no one else can help. And he did.’”
Dr. Rose said Father Glennon served people with no voice and no hope and often helped them find a way out of their troubles.
Father Glennon was a counselor with advanced degrees in psychology who was clinical director and founder of the Center for Individual and Family Effectiveness, where he served for 20 years.
Dr. Rose pointed out that the nonprofit agency Father Glennon founded saved many lives, and its reputation was widely renowned.
“We helped a lot of people change their lives. His guidance was the vision, the understanding, and the influence on patients and the people he brought in under his wing to train and assist them in their learning,” Dr. Rose said. “He was the philosopher, and I was the translator.”
He said the Holy Trinity priest’s expertise was counseling people to make choices that benefit their lives.
Monsignor Humbrecht, who noted that Father Glennon was close to the Knights of Columbus during his ministry, said the longtime priest of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity religious order will be missed by many who knew him and were served by him. A Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree Honor Guard was part of the memorial Mass.
“From the time Father Bertin started helping here in Holy Spirit Parish, the people welcomed him as he immediately made himself part of our parish family. We were blessed to host in 2021 the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. His laugh was recognizable and infectious,” Monsignor Humbrecht said.
