Fr Manus Bradley, Pastor of the eight parishes that comprise the Saint John Paul II Pastoral Unit, was ordained in 1989 in his home city and diocese of Derry, Northern Ireland. He worked in parish and school ministry for 16 years before volunteering to serve in an anglophone parish in the Canadian diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall in 2005. He then moved to the diocese of Montreal in 2007, and since 2015 has ministered in the diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil.  He is still incardinated in his home diocese of Derry and is “on loan” here. He describes himself as an “accidental missionary”.

Fr Manus gained an honours degree in Modern History and Philosophy from the National University of Ireland, an undergraduate honours degree in Theology, as well as a postgraduate Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University, with a specialism in bioethics. He is interested in monastic spirituality, especially the early Desert Fathers, Celtic Spirituality and has a particular love of Pauline scripture.

Fr Manus has a keen interest in modern art and antiques and uses his vacation time to visit his parents and family who all live in Ireland. He enjoys spending quiet time at his house by the ocean in Donegal. He also likes to explore Canada and has visited all seventeen administrative regions of Quebec as well as having traveled extensively in the Maritimes.