The Nearly Man: A True Story of a Young Man’s Striving to Achieve His Life’s Ambition

This is the true moving story of a young man growing up in the 1950's, of staunch Roman Catholic parents. Encouraged by family and teachers, the eleven years old holds a burning desire to become a Missionary Priest. His story unfolds against the backdrop of a Catholic Church going through massive change, yet stuck firmly in the past, with teachings and traditions going back hundreds of years. Leaving the love of his family he joins a junior seminary where he begins his progress towards becoming a priest. It describes his fears and concerns about his calling from God and his life at a boarding school. It tracks his adolescent life, desperately trying to come to terms with being a youth with normal feelings, whilst living in the unusual environment of a Monastery. It tells of his emotional turmoil and inability to make a definite decision about his future, as he becomes more and more institutionalised. It follows his time in a Scottish Monastery where he is initiated into strict Monastic ways, then moves onto a Seminary where he struggles with Monastic life, his studies and emotional relationships. Finally, illness and love are the catalysts for The Nearly Man making the decision of his lifetime.

John Stephen Nearey was born on 17th.September 1948, at precisely 11.20am by his Mother Lily, in Crumpsall Hospital Manchester. His Father, Arthur Thomas Nearey, was at work at A.V.Roe, Lancaster Bomber Aircraft Manufacturers, at Woodford in Cheshire, where he worked as a Fitter. Rumour has it, that at 11.20 a.m. the precise time of Stephen’s birth, that the factory horn sounded three times to announce the end of a tea break. His Father, Arthur, had a rather different take on the horn sounding, preferring to believe that the triple blast of the horn was in honour of his 2nd son’s birth. This is the story of a young boy and young man, one and the same person. He was an unremarkable man, who lived the earlier part of his life and into young manhood and came very close to achieving a remarkable life’s ambition. From the tender age of just eleven years, with the help and encouragement of his parents and elder brother, he strived to become a member of a Religious Order of Monks. His crowning ambition was for him to become a Monk and a Missionary Priest of the Redemptorist Order. The following pages describe the young life-story, of not just of one young man, but also a fitting commentary on the life and times of post war Catholics, attitudes to religion in the early 1960s, which were a time of major upheaval. That Stephen ultimately failed to achieve his main life’s ambition is now a matter of fact. Yet he now holds his memories of those difficult years with some happiness, much sadness, but also a deep and lasting affection for those who helped to shape him into the person that he is today. Stephen’s desire to tell his story was borne out of a wish to explain to anybody who reads it, about his past life, and the reasons why he followed this extraordinary lifestyle. It will perhaps explain, just why he is the person he is today and the affect that it will have had on him as an adult person. It lays bare his soul and exposes not just his personality traits, but also his faults and weaknesses. As such, it has not been easy to write and publish this book and he pondered both long and hard before deciding to do so. The author has no desire to make any monetary gain from this publication. It is sufficient for readers to enjoy the book and to understand the motives of the author. Instead, he wishes to assist a cause very close to his heart. Therefore, all Royalties earned by the publication of this book will go to Cancer Research UK. The Author J.S.Nearey