Marianist Father Daniel Doyle, 77

By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper

HOLLYWOOD | A funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, Nov. 8 at 10 a.m. at Nativity Church here for Father Daniel Doyle, a Marianist who spent nearly his entire priesthood serving at Nativity and its next-door neighbor, Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory.

Father Doyle, 77, died Oct. 29 after a period of failing health. He had been a Marianist for 59 years and a priest for 47.

He arrived at the all-boys Chaminade High School (which later merged with the all-girls Madonna Academy) just after his ordination in 1967. For four decades he served the Marianist-owned school as teacher, president, chaplain, campus minister and member of the board of trustees.

“For 40 years, Father Doyle was an essential building block for C-M,” said Kandi Osman, alumni relations and special events coordinator at Chaminade-Madonna.

One of Chaminade-Madonna’s five “houses” — a grouping of students from each of the four grade levels — is named Doyle House in his honor. Father Doyle also received the Blessed Chaminade Founders’ Award and the Alumni Appreciation Award.

He also worked closely with the archdiocese’s Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

“He started the first prayer meeting down here,” said Jim Horvath, who with his wife Mary coordinates the English-speaking charismatic groups in the archdiocese.

“We’ve known him since about 1973. We’ve been working with him for years,” Jim Horvath said. “Whenever we’d have a conference he’d be there. He had a prayer meeting there at Chaminade all the time, every Tuesday. He was involved in everything.”

Father Doyle’s biographical profile for his golden jubilee as a religious in 2005 also noted that he was chaplain to Hollywood’s Police Department.

Former students posted tributes to Father Doyle on the Chaminade-Madonna Facebook page.

Peter Mineo wrote: “44 years ago Father Dan was my Bible teacher. I fondly remember his kind and loving and spiritual nature which I got to know during one of my encounters. I know we have been taught to pray for the departed and I will do that but I am confident that the only way he is not in heaven is if it does not exist. For the class of 74 RIP Father Dan! All of those who knew you in the past 50 years have been given a gift from the Lord.”

One alumnus also posted a copy of the 1992 yearbook where Father Doyle addressed the graduating seniors. He told them:

“For four years at Chaminade-Madonna you have prayed, listened, shared, learned and been challenged to stretch and grow in the Christian life. After these four years of blessings and graces, you are undoubtedly filled with many hopes and dreams about how your class can cooperate with other Christians to bring Jesus’ message more effectively to the whole world. There is only one way. We evangelize by our way of life, our service, and our proclamation… The Lord Jesus sends you to evangelize the world – Right Here. Right Now! …Do so in a way that will cause people to sit up and take notice. Right here. Right now!”

Father Doyle was born March 24, 1937, in New York City. He took his first vows as a Marianist Sept. 8, 1955, final vows Aug. 15, 1960, and was ordained a priest July 4, 1967.

In addition to studying with the Marianists in Dayton, Ohio, he had degrees from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, Notre Dame University in Indiana, and Regis College in Toronto, Canada.

The wake for Father Doyle will take place Friday, Nov. 7, from 5 to 10 p.m. at Nativity Church, 5200 Johnston St., Hollywood. Burial will be Wednesday, Nov. 12 at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury, Long Island, N.Y., site of the former New York Province of the Marianists.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to the Father Dan Doyle Chaminade-Madonna Endowment for Student Tuition Assistance, c/o Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory, 500 East Chaminade Drive, Hollywood, FL 33021.