Charles Drennan

Charles Edward Drennan (born 23 August 1960 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand Bishop who was formerly the second Bishop of Palmerston North, New Zealand, from 2012 to 2019. On 4 October 2019 he resigned his position. Two allegations of "unacceptable behaviour" of a sexual nature were made. An investigation by the Catholic Church's New Zealand Office for Professional Standards found that the behaviour was unacceptable for a Catholic bishop but not criminal in nature.

Early life Drennan was raised by an Anglican father and a Catholic mother. He attended Ilam School, St Teresa's School (Riccarton), Kirkwood Intermediate School and Christ's College. At St Teresa's, the nine-year-old Drennan was introduced by a teacher to the book Promises to Keep by Dr Tom Dooley about the Vietnam War. This book impressed Drennan, who was even then thinking of becoming a priest, with the notion of service. He studied for the priesthood at Holy Cross Seminary, Mosgiel, for two years before being sent by his bishop, Basil Meeking of Christchurch, to Rome to complete his training at the Pontifical Urbaniana University. Parish Priest of St Anne's Parish, Woolston, and chair of the Council of Priests.

Episcopacy Drennan was appointed coadjutor bishop of Palmerston North by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2011. He chose as his motto caritas congaudet veritati (love delights in the truth), taken from the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13. His principal consecrator was his future predecessor, Bishop Peter Cullinane of Palmerston North and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop Barry Jones of Christchurch and Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn. Drennan succeeded to the see on 22 February 2012, upon the retirement of Peter Cullinane. His installation took place at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on 17 March 2012.

On 7 March 2015, Drennan joined with other protestors in a demonstration in Palmerston North in relation to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In a speech to the 500 protestors in The square, he said: "Absolute freedom is not in our interests." "It most certainly is not a right of global business interests to trump the duty of an elected government to govern a nation's economy in accord with the wishes of that nation's citizens." Drennan also denounced the secrecy of the TPP negotiations.

Drennan was a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania and a bishop member of the board of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office Ltd. He served as a member of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference Commission until his resignation in October 2019.