European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Search for spiritual dimension led Bradley Pierce from the business world to Seminary Ledwell Doyle seeking Priesthood at 70. John Macneil to work with terminally Iii. Anew lifestyle by George Esper associated pressm Uch of Bradley Pierce s life Hud been filled with sex Ana drugs. He a Corr went to bed much before Dawn. Two marriages did t work out. One night he turned the keys of his Manhattan nightclub Ovici to someone else and never came Back. Ledwell Doyle s two daughters were grown and his wife Hart died. He was an executive of an insurance company in his native Canada. In his Golden years he found himself alone but with a Young Man s dream of Long ago that Hill bickered. John Macneil a widower who had lived in Canada most of his life had a Well paying Job As a nuclear Engi Neer. His wife had died i jut years ago in 1972 and he was at Loose ends no getting any satisfaction from his work. Uke the apostles who Gate up their fishing nets to follow Christ nearly 2,000 Yean ago. Pierce Doyle and Macneil left their jobs and lifestyles to eater the print Good. They came to holy apostles Seminary nestled in the picturesque Connecticut Valley at Cromwell 20 minutes from Hartford. The Seminary was established 24 years ago by the missionaries of the holy apostles religious order for second career or delayed vocations in the Priesthood. It hns sent nearly 200 priests into parishes dioceses and saturday september 20, 1980 doily Magazine of Mim bit of we la my religious congregations in the United slates and abroad. Its enrolment includes former Rock musicians television performers teachers g is and Cooks. To help pay their tuition and room and Board the seminarians work is handymen on the 30 acres occupied by the Seminary. Pierce a 43-year-old native of North Haven conn., had been in the restaurant and discotheque business inner York City. He rubbed elbows with the famous of show business and politics during the Rock Era of the 60s. "1 was getting less and less satisfaction and less endless meaning out of my lifestyle he recalls. And i think that part of the Rock culture Milieu was a searching especially at that time by certain groups for answers in life and a spiritual dimension to their lives too was searching. Finally in 1974,1 had come to the realization that i desperately needed to be baptized which i never was. One sin which does t necessarily measure to be greater than any of the others that i committed one sin brought me to my Knees. At that particular Point i was ready task he continued to run his nightclub business for about six months after his baptism. Then he entered a Trappist Abbey St. Joseph a i Spencer mass. I left my nightclub one morning at 5 30 . I just turned the keys Over to someone else and reported to the Trappist Abbey at about 3 in the afternoon and went to bed that first evening for probably the first time in my life at about 8 30 in the he stayed in the Abbey for six months then went to India where he spent three months with Mother Teresa working with the porn in a Leper Colony. Soon after perhaps within eight or nine months i began to realize Bacall to he vocation of he is scheduled to be ordained a year from now. Pierce says he has found peace of mind and is not tempted to return to his old ways. Doyle at 70 the oldest of the seminarians says he decided to enter holy apostles College after his wife died in november 1978. I be always had a leaning and a wish for the priest Hood right Back to my Early school Days he says. But family finances and that Type of thing denied me of Doyle is from Moncton new Brunswick. He has two daughters. Sister Joan 44, and sister Bethany 37, Mem Bers of the order of St. Martha in Prince Edward Island. He was with Blue Cross of Atlantic Canada for 35 years the last 18 As its president. He retired in 1977. As i retired he says i was always faced with a Busy life and a challenging life. I was always very Active in the Church. I was president of the Parish Council for example and i also saw a great need of Lay help for the Church. And i said god has blessed me. I m now free and i have the time. I Don t know if i have the ability but nevertheless i would like to be a priest and offer my services in a Fuller Way. If i can be instrumental i helping even one person despite the Rigours and demands of College and the Seminary to me it would be Worth it " must that if have 10 judge me i m satisfied1 m doing As Well As i expected. I must confess i did t expect the loads to be quite As demanding As they arc but i m not a bit Doyle will be ordained i to years from now. Munch 54, was Bora la Detroit where his father Canadian citizen was an Auto worker for three Yean. But Macneil an american citizen was raised and educated in Canada. He family returned there when he was still child. He worked for 20 years for atomic Energy of Canada Ltd in Ontario. His wife died in 1972. He has two children Anne Marie Martheleur 25, married and living in Sydney Nova Scotia and Scott 21, who is studying lobe an architect at Nova Scotia technical College. My wife was dead the kids were grown he says. 1 was on the Loose Tuhcic and i had a Good position the Job was going Well but i was t gelling All that much satisfaction out of it. I could see personally that this snot All there is to life and living. In the Back of my mind Lor a number of years was this feeling that there s Somo thing More to living than this. It was t a move on the Spur of the moment. It was in r j ,. My mind for a numb a of years. After my wife died i did t really think about it because the two children were still going to the University preparing for their on careers. After they finished this Call or thought became stronger and stronger in my Macneil to be ordained in about 18 months recalls that while he was a Plant manager he worked with employees who had personal problems such As alcoholism. He spoil i timings visiting convalescent Homesly spend Una with the elderly who needed someone to be with them. Here s where 1 got the the stars and stripes Page 13
