Seminary - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Seminary

The Fish Report always shares photos and articles about local high school reunions from around the area. But here’s a well written article from outside our area about a reunion of seminarians from the classes of 1966 & 67. As touched on in prior blogs I attended the Society of Precious Blood’s Brunnerdale Seminary, pictured above, located in Canton, Ohio for the first two years of high school and can recall about 10-15 others from local midwestern Ohio communities who were in the seminary at the same time, including several cousins. Those who had left early were invited to attend the reunion but I couldn’t due to a family wedding.

The class stays connected thanks to a fellow classmate by the name of Mike Ploetz, who unfortunately is currently undergoing treatment for brain cancer. The photos above show Mike at the reunion and him ringing the bell after his last chemo treatment. The article's author, Gary Brown of the Canton Repository, does a great job recounting seminary life back in the 1960’s.

Memories of Brunnerdale Seminary

Reunions of seminary classes held at Glenmoor Country Club

1966

2017

Memories of the road to the priesthood were told over the weekend when the 1966 and 1967 classes at Brunnerdale Seminary held a reunion at Glenmoor Country Club -- the transformed site of their religious experience five decades ago.

Some 30 members of the two graduating classes, along with 15 spouses, came together at the place where the men attended Brunnerdale, which at the time was a high school for boys intending to become Catholic priests or brothers.

"When our class graduated it was the largest in the history of the seminary," said Michael Ploetz, organizer of the reunion and a member of the 1966 class. "Our two classes were at Brunnerdale when it was most busy and most crowded. We were actually over capacity with more than 300 students and dozens of priests, brothers and nuns as staff.

Sister Leoclaudia

"After that it tapered off until there were only a couple of dozen in the 1980s and they had to close the school."

The last principal at Brunnerdale, Brother Benjamin Basile, was a classmate of Ploetz at St. Joseph's College in Indiana, the Catholic college for religious vocational training that followed schooling at Brunnerdale.

A little history

The website for Glenmoor Country Club tells the history of Brunnerdale Seminary High School.

About the end of the 19th century a priest named "Father Brunner" left Germany and immigrated to the United States, the history notes.

"His purpose was to establish his faith among the German people in Pennsylvania," explains the Glenmoor history. "The order was to be 'The Society of the Precious Blood.' Their descendants have kept alive the Society and established Brunnerdale Seminary High School for boys preparing for the priesthood. They named the school in honor of Father Brunner.

"The original site for the school was donated by two bachelor brothers by the name of Race, who owned the farm which surrounded the school," the history continues.

"The classic Gothic building was built during the years 1930-1931 with the first class starting in late October of 1931. The building contains approximately 167,000 square feet. For those of you who remember the depression you can realize how much an edifice of that magnitude meant to Stark county and Canton, Ohio. The building contains Belden Brick, East Canton Tile and Republic Steel, not to mention all of the labor force required to complete such a building."

Few priests

At some point during the four years of education and training for become a priest or brother at Brunnerdale about 140 students were members of the 1966 graduating class, estimated Ploetz.

"We started freshman year with 103 and over the years another 40 would come and leave," Ploetz recalled. "Of those 140 or so seminarians, there was only one who became a priest, Fr. Bert Woolson. We had two who became brothers, but only one practicing priest. When we started they told us that only one in 10 would make it to priesthood or become brothers, and it turned out to be less than that."

Father Woolson

Ploetz and others recently visited that priest, who lives in Indiana and was unable to attend the reunion because of health reasons (note: Fr. Woolson has since died)

The 1967 class "did a little better," Ploetz noted. Two members of that class were ordained as priests in the Society of the Precious Blood order and continue to practice. One of them, The Rev. William O'Donnell of St. Henry parish of Mercer Country in southwestern Ohio, was expected to say Sunday morning Mass for those attending the reunion, a service held in the chapel at Glenmoor.

Reasons that "very few went on to the priesthood" were varied, said Ploetz, who dropped out of the priesthood program himself after education at St. Joseph's.

"Some left very early because they were homesick," Ploetz said. "Some guys decided they really liked girls. There were a few who had trouble making grades. Quite a few in the class decided that the priesthood was not for them. And there were some who were asked to leave because of their conduct."

Life inside

Smoking and bad language were two of the most common conduct violations. In the 1960s, Brunnerdale was "more like a monastery than a high school," recalled Ploetz.

"We were not allowed to have radios. We weren't allowed to watch television, except for special occasions. They would bring television out for things like the Cuban Missile Crisis, but not when you just wanted to watch TV. When we did read a newspaper it was The Canton Repository, but that was not often. It was considered not in our best interest."

Students regularly wore clerical clothing. Cassocks were the priestly garb of choice.

"We had to keep silent at night, from after evening prayers to after breakfast in the morning," Ploetz remembered. "It was a very strict environment for young men."

School course work was challenging.

"We got a good education," Ploetz said. "But we didn't learn much about girls. We never saw any."

Losing touch

These and other memories were exchanged during the past weekend's reunion, which was born out of a gathering last year in Mercer County.

"We've had reunions over the years. Our class had a 15-year reunion and the class of 1967 had a couple of reunions. We thought, wouldn't it be great if we got the two classes together for a reunion?"

The combined classes gathered last year near Dayton.

"A lot of the guys said they'd really like to see Glenmoor," explained Ploetz.

Glenmoor Country Club, with its clubhouse, banquet facilities and lodging units, has been host through the years of a number of reunions related to Brunnerdale Seminary. It provides those attending with a view of how the seminary has been reborn.

An opportunity to golf on the Jack Nicklaus course was afforded the most recent reunion. Tours of the buildings were arranged, Ploetz said. A dinner Saturday night was held in the Glenmoor banquet facility. It was an opportunity for fellowship.

"A lot of the guys we haven't seen for a long time," Ploetz said.

Keeping the faith

Though not priests, many of the seminarians of the 1960s have remained strong Catholics, Ploetz said.

Ploetz, who recently retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is happily married with four children and five grandchildren.

"I was 13 years old when I started on that path (to priesthood)," he said. "I was 22 years old when I left. Your views on things are different as you get older. After awhile I decided that a different vocation was right for me. I think that's the case with most of the guys who left."

Those decisions to leave the seminary resulted in a variety of career choices for members of the 1966 and 1967 classes. (Note: One classmate, now deceased, found the wrong side of the law and was arrested 8 times! Mug shots below)

"We've had every occupation you could think of -- doctors, a pilot, businessmen, teachers, lawyers," said Ploetz. "One fellow is a farmer. One of the fellows was a brain surgeon."

Both classes, Ploetz said, had a member killed in the war in Vietnam.

One member of the class, although he got married instead of being ordained as a priest, still bolstered the ranks of the priesthood, Ploetz noted.

"We have one guy in the class who had 12 kids, and two of them became priests."

Postscript: A favorite memory from those times was several of us seminarians breaking into the altar wine locker. That's about all I recall of the incident as I was only 14 and definitely wasn’t used to drinking; however, I do recall we never got caught! Here are some more Brunnerdale photos from the family album thanks to sister Lucy.

About to Leave for the Seminary

Me Freshman Year at Brunnerdale

Weekend Visit by my Family l-r Sara, Lucy, Ann, Dad

Summer Picnic on Brunnerdale’s Back 40, Now a Jack Nicklaus-Designed Golf Course

Brunnerdale Dormitory

Definitely a Stretch!

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