Chai Brady
Footballer Gary Brennan ‘My two priest uncles were a great example of the Faith and priesthood,’ Gary Brennan tells Chai Brady
Gary Brennan, Clare GAA stalwart and respected secondary school teacher, has warned that social media poses one of the greatest challenges to young people today. In a wide-ranging interview with The Irish Catholic, he shared how his faith, family, and involvement in sport shaped his life and instilled values of empathy and resilience.
Mr Brennan’s reflections highlight not only the pressing issues young people face but also the enduring importance of faith and community in navigating life’s challenges.
Growing up in Ballyea, a village about six miles from Ennis, he was surrounded by a strong sense of faith and community. His family, particularly his mother’s two brothers who were priests, played a significant role in nurturing his spiritual life.
“Faith was a big thing, but felt a very natural thing as well,” Brennan explained. “We had a very strong community spirit there. At home, faith was always very important to my parents. I have two uncles in the priesthood—two brothers of my mother—so that was obviously a great example for us and gave us an insight into the priesthood.”
The presence of his uncles enriched family life, as did the community’s connection to the parish. He said: “I just have great memories of them always being great fun with us and being very good, kind to us always.
“It was just a very normal and natural thing for us attending Mass and being a part of the community was very important to us.”
Mr Brennan also recalled the close relationship between the local primary school and the parish. “There was a good connection between the primary school and the parish community as well. I was part of school choirs at different stages and served Mass. It was just always something that was part of life.”
GAA and Faith intertwined
Sport was another foundational element of Mr Brennan’s life. He said: “I’ve been involved in the GAA as long as I can remember. My father coached and managed, so my earliest memories are being on the sideline and being in pictures with him and running around, getting in people’s way—that’s where I was at that age.”
“GAA was always around me growing up. It was both something I took an interest in very quickly and something I wanted to get to the very highest level of if I could.”
Mr Brennan remembered his early days in the sport, recalling the slower pace at which things were done in comparison to today. “Nowadays they start in the local club at five years of age or four years of age even, but I remember my mother ringing up the local trainer for the under-10s and they asked what age I was, and when she said six, nearly seven, he said, ‘You can hang on to him for another two years so.’”
He credited his love for GAA to his family, especially his two younger brothers, with whom he spent countless hours practicing. “I was lucky, I suppose, that I had two younger brothers, and we were always playing at home and practicing ourselves. I loved going out with the ball. Again, it was a very normal and natural part of my childhood and something that I really enjoyed doing and wanted to get as good as I possibly could doing.”
When asked how faith and sport formed him, Mr Brennan said, “All of our experiences form us. I think my faith was very important in giving me a sense of empathy and being able to put myself in others’ shoes, and considering what it’s like for others.”
He continued, “It helped give me a sense of perspective and a sense of empathy, and I’d like to think I care for others, and the way I like to try and carry myself and behave. My faith and sport were equally important in developing that.”
I relied on my faith, but I always felt a great support, I think my faith helped in that”
Challenges in sport taught Brennan resilience, and faith offered comfort in moments of difficulty. “There wasn’t any major moment, I suppose, I felt I relied on my faith, but I always felt a great support, I think my faith helped in that. My grandparents on my father’s side, for example, are deceased. My grandmother died before I was even born, and my grandfather died when I wasn’t even three, but I often felt their presence, or felt their support.”
He also reflected on the setbacks he faced as a young athlete. “At 14, at 15, at 16, I wasn’t good enough to make a county squad, and that could be very disheartening. But I suppose I was lucky that I had good people around me, with those good values, who encouraged me to keep going and to work hard and to try and improve on the things I needed to improve on, and that helped me eventually to get to a level where I was able to make an impact and be good enough for county.”
Social media: A major challenge
In his role as a teacher of Irish and PE at St Flannan’s College, Mr Brennan witnesses the challenges facing young people today, particularly the impact of social media.
“It’s a major, major challenge,” he said. “I think it’s putting an enormous amount of pressure on young people. The nature of people to compare themselves to one another is heightened enormously by social media, and the perception that everyone else is doing amazing things is heightened by it.
“It’s difficult for young people to keep a sense of reality with the major influence of social media. I think it will be a long time before we really figure out how to manage social media use, and use it in a way that helps us rather than potentially hurts. There are people that do manage that, but in a broader societal sense, it’s probably one of the biggest challenges we have because we don’t even know the half of what they are accessing or seeing online.”
Promoting physical activity
Mr Brennan emphasised the importance of sports and physical activity in countering the negative effects of social media and screen time. “As a PE teacher, it’s something I am working on constantly. We actually have a group in our school that are looking at raising activity levels—all the studies show that activity rates are declining. We’re way off recommendations,” he said.
He added, “Students who can keep an interest, keep a passion for a pastime, you just see the confidence and the skills it gives them to help deal with school and deal with any challenges they come across. Sport does that in particular. I suppose I am very biased in that sense, but equally music, drama, or art—anything that allows young people to express themselves.”
Mr Brennan is hopeful about the future, both for society and for his own family. “I hope we can try and have as healthy and as kind a society as we can have in a general sense,” he said.
On a personal level, he prays for good health for his family and the ability to pass on the values that have guided him. “For ourselves, just please God keep our health and give the boys, our sons, every chance to enjoy the things that we enjoyed growing up and that we can help and encourage them in every way with that.”
Mr Brennan offers a powerful reminder of the importance of faith, sport, and community in helping young people navigate an increasingly complex world.