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Our Lady of the Atonement

Father Christopher G. Phillips

One of the things that makes a family a family is the shared heritage, the common tradition, the collection of stories which form its history. In my own family, I can’t let one of my children’s birthdays go by without telling the story of what we were doing on that day, and what it was like when they were born -- and even though I sometimes get a kind of "good-natured" rolling of the eyes, and comments like "here goes Dad with his stories again!" nonetheless I think there is something in us that enjoys hearing -- and even needs to hear -- those stories that make up our past history, because it helps us to know who and what we are today. And so, for that reason, this is the day, each year, when I tell something of our story and how Our Lady of the Atonement came to claim us as her own children. Some of you have heard parts of this story before; others of you are relatively new to the parish; but how we, as a community of faith, came to be is an important part of our history which bears telling -- because it describes the living actions of a Living God who claims us and calls us and Who has set our feet upon the path of spiritual growth and holiness. And the story begins with a young Episcopal clergyman named Lewis Wattson who was born in 1863 and lived until 1940. Little did I know, when I first heard of him some years ago, that his willingness to seek and follow God’s Will for his life would have such deep ramifications for my own life, the life of my family, and the lives of all who have come to be a part of this parish.

Lewis Wattson (who would come to be known as Fr. Paul of Graymoor) was part of what was called the "High-Church" wing of the Episcopal Church -- those who considered themselves "High Church" were those who, even though part of the Protestant Episcopal Church, had a high regard for the Sacraments, especially for the Holy Eucharist and for the sacred priesthood. These were the clergy and people who knew that the sad separation of the Anglicans from the Catholic Church under the reign of King Henry VIII was a matter of great sadness and tragedy, and many High Church Episcopalians sought to do all that they could to bring about the reunion of Christendom under the headship of the Successor of Peter. Father Paul (as he would be known) was one such clergyman -- and he actively sought God’s guidance in what he should do within his ministry to accomplish the Will of Jesus Christ.

So it was that while he was the Rector of a little Episcopal Church named St. John’s, one morning after he had offered the Eucharist, he knelt down before the altar in the empty church and opened the Scriptures three times. The date was July 9, 1893. The first time the pages opened, it was in the Gospel of St. John, at the words spoken by Jesus when He taught that the Holy Spirit must spring up in those who believe like a well of Living Water; the second time the pages opened it was in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, where he wrote, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement."; the third time the pages opened, it was in St. Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, where he recounts the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Father Wattson made a notation of these passages, and took them as being God’s guidance to him in the foundation of the work which was to be his: he felt that God was calling him to found a religious community which (1) would have the Holy Spirit as its inspiration and guide, with the Living Water as its sustenance; (2) that the doctrine he was to preach was to be the "atonement" -- the at-one-ment of man with God which was accomplished by Jesus Christ upon the Cross; and (3) that the central means of grace by which Christ’s atoning work on the cross was accomplished is made a reality through the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Mass. But at the same time, God gave Fr. Paul the feeling that this would not be accomplished immediately, but that some years would need to pass before it would become a reality. Fr. Paul finished his time at St. John’s and was called to a new mission work in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was attached to the Episcopal parish of St. Barnabas. He continued very successfully in his work there, until finally God made it clear that the time had come. Fr. Paul was to return to the east and take up the foundation of this new work which was to be based upon those passages of Scripture which had been revealed to him, and which bear the name of the Society of the Atonement... a new Franciscan community within the Episcopal Church which he was to co-found with a holy woman named Mother Lurana. It was on July 4, 1898 (just 100 years ago) that Fr. Paul wrote (still as an Episcopalian clergyman) "I believe in the universal jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff as the Successor of St. Peter and the Vicar of Jesus Christ." So his path was set -- he and Mother Lurana founded their Community within the Episcopal Church, but based it upon the truth they had come to know -- until finally they and their fellow Atonement Franciscans were received into the Roman Catholic Church on October 30, 1909. He had travelled from St. John’s Church to St. Barnabas’ Church and then finally to a remote hilltop in New York State called Graymoor where he and his community found their final home in the Catholic Church, bringing with them their unique title by which they knew the Blessed Virgin -- that title which had God had entwined with the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross -- that title which recalled Mary standing beneath that Cross -- the title of Our Lady of the Atonement.

I knew nothing of this story when my family and returned to the United States in 1978 from 5 years of living in England, where I had completed my theological studies and where I had been ordained and had served as an Anglican clergyman. But upon our return, my path was mysteriously united with the path of Fr. Paul, in ways I was not even aware. The Episcopal parish to which I had been called was another St. Barnabas Church. It was there that I found a book which had been left by one of my predecessors... a book entitled "Our Lady and Reunion" which was one of the very few books in existence which was exclusively about Our Lady of the Atonement. I had never heard the title before, and was tempted to discard the book because I thought it was nothing which would interest me -- but for some reason I just couldn’t throw it away. So it remained on my book shelf, where I would look at it from time to time. For some reason the picture of Our Lady of the Atonement developed a stronger and stronger hold on me, and like Fr. Paul, while I was at St. Barnabas I began to realize that my spiritual journey was leading my family and myself to the Catholic Church. But how? My vocation was to the priesthood, but that wasn’t possible at the time. To be a married man excluded me from Catholic ordination -- until that day in 1980 when the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II announced that he was establishing a Pastoral Provision for individuals just as myself -- married Episcopal clergy with a vocation to Catholic priesthood. So the door was opened. And another move was in store. Just as Fr. Paul moved from his St. John’s Church to St. Barnabas Church as part of his discernment for the doing of God’s Will, so I was called to move from St. Barnabas Church to another Episcopal church called St. John’s where I could more easily discern what God had in store. He made His Will clear quite quickly. We were to move to Texas where God would reveal what it was He wanted me to do. So it was that we arrived in January of 1982 and set about building upon the foundation which would result in the establishment of this parish which had been waiting in the eternal mind of Almighty God.

The little book about Our Lady of the Atonement was one of the first volumes I unpacked an placed on the bookshelves of that first little house on the northeast side of San Antonio which we called the Rectory, where I shared my office with the washer and drier and an old manual typewriter. Slowly, and through the prayers and faithfulness of many people, I came to the decision that I would make a promise to God; namely, that if He would allow my ordination as a Catholic priest to take place, and also inspire the archbishop to establish a parish for those faithful people here in San Antonio who were also seeking entrance into the Catholic Church, then we would seek permission to erect the parish under the title of Our Lady of the Atonement. God made good on His side of the bargain -- on August 15, 1983, I was ordained as a Catholic priest, and our parish was canonically erected under the patronage of Our Lady of the Atonement.

That was 15 years ago. At that time we were a tiny and yet optimistic group of eighteen people, worshipping in a rented church, with an unknown future. Today we are part of a vibrant parish with an excellent school -- a community of Catholics from a great variety of backgrounds with a reputation which is known far beyond our archdiocesan boundaries. Did we do it? No -- God did... just as God worked in the lives of Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana to accomplish his divine Will. And we, as they, have lived and continue to live in the power of those Scriptures revealed to Fr. Paul so long ago, teaching us that we have no power, no "Living Water" save that of the Holy Spirit; that we have one truth to proclaim, and that is the truth of the atonement...the at-one-ment of man with God through the work of Jesus upon the Cross; and that the fruit of this work is made a reality through the Sacrifice which is offered upon the Altar here. And overarching it all is the heavenly assistance which we know is ours; namely, the intercession of our Blessed Mother, known to us under her mysteriously beautiful title of Our Lady of the Atonement.