The former Church of Ireland Bishop of the cross-border Clogher diocese Brian Hannon (85) has died following a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
Father of Divine Comedy lead singer Neil Hannon, he recalled in a 2011 interview how his diagnosis followed a casual remark to his GP about needing a cure to help him remember people’s names.
“By the next day I was in the Erne Hospital with the geriatrician,” where he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
“Initially it was horrific, I couldn’t use the word Alzheimer’s for months. I hadn’t a clue what was going on. I’d gone into a total depression,” he said. Then he was “ introduced to this little half pill,” Aricept. It helps people in the mild to moderate stage of Alzheimer’s.
Speaking of his father in 2015 Neil Hannon said “I have two words for coping with Dad’s illness: it’s hard.” By then he was devoting much of his time to charity performances for the Alzheimer’s Society: “a cause close to my heart.” In 2014 he dedicated a composition for London’s Royal Festival Hall’s newly renovated organ, ‘To Our Fathers in Distress’, to his own father.
Born in 1936, Bishop Hannon attended Trinity College Dublin and was ordained in 1961. Having served in various Northern Irish parishes he was elected Bishop of Clogher in 1986 and retired in 2001 on his 65th birthday. His successor as Bishop of Clogher was Michael Jackson, current Archbishop of Dublin.
He said Bishop Hannon was " renowned as someone to whom community at its most extensive mattered and he played his part ecumenically, not only in Ireland but internationally." He continued "our prayers and thoughts today are with his wife Maeve and their three sons Desmond, Brendan and Neil and their families along with all the people of the diocese."
Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop John McDowell said Bishop Hannon was “deeply loved by so many people” and “just as deeply respected right across the Church.”
He had “ministered in times and places which were amongst the most difficult during the Troubles, yet he did so without growing bitter or cynical,” and “did all in his power to work towards peaceful outcomes in a divided society.”
Current Bishop of Clogher Ian Ellis remembered Bishop Hannon for "providing leadership through days of disruption and violence in Northern Ireland. " His "patient, prayerful approach" was "fondly remembered by all."
