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Follow on Google News | Fire in the Night: The Life & Legacy of Father Paul of GraymoorA biographical look at Father Paul Wattson, SA, founder of Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and Promoter of Christian Unity
“This book pulls together the key moments of the life and legacy of Father Paul Wattson,” said Rev. Scerbo. “He was a person with a broad vision and a long reach. I wanted readers to be inspired by his life-call, and respond to the grace of God, as he did. His whole purpose was to work and pray for the realization of Christ’s prayer at the Last Supper: “That they all may be one: as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…” (John 17:21) Father Paul was born on January 16, 1863 in Millington, Maryland, and baptized Lewis Thomas Wattson. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1886. In 1898, in collaboration with an Episcopal sister, Lurana White, he helped to found the Society of the Atonement at Graymoor in Garrison, NY, with the mission of promoting Christian unity. In 1908, Father Paul initiated the Church Unity Octave believing that a time set aside for prayer and seminars would hasten Christian unity. Advocates of corporate reunion between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, he and Mother Lurana White made a decision to become Roman Catholics. In 1909, the Society of the Atonement became the first religious community of Christians to be received corporately into the Roman Catholic Church since the Reformation. Fr. Paul was ordained a Catholic priest by Archbishop John M. Farley in 1910. Among his many achievements, Father Paul founded St. Christopher’ Very Reverend James F. Puglisi, S.A., Minister General of the order of Franciscan friars founded by Father Wattson said, “Father Paul was a builder of bridges with outstanding Christian virtues. He was a true Franciscan who loved the poor. He also loved the supreme gift God gave us in atonement, his only Son.” Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said the book recognized the contributions of Father Paul Wattson to the Church and the New York Diocese. “The work of the Holy Spirit is evident in Father Paul’s tireless efforts toward Christian unity, support of missionary activity and loving care for those in need that continues today at St. Christopher’ Fire in the Night (ISBN# 978-2-7468-2950- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rev. Joseph M. Scerbo, S.A., was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1970. Reverend Scerbo is a member of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, two distinct religious communities dedicated to Christian Unity and inter-religious understanding, founded by Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White. He earned a Master of Teaching Science in Counseling Psychology from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a Master of Arts in Theology from St. Paul's College, Washington, D.C. In 1983, Rev. Scerbo received his Ph.D, an interdisciplinary doctorate in Religion and the Personality Sciences from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He served as Academic Dean of Trinity College of Graduate Studies for sixteen years. He has been involved in campus ministry at Newman Centers at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Berkeley, and Los Angeles City College and also served as a Retreat Master at Graymoor, Garrison, N.Y. He served as past President of the Catholic, ecumenical, and eucharistically- The Franciscan Friars of the Atonement are a Roman Catholic order of brothers and priests founded in 1898 by Fr. Paul Wattson, SA at Graymoor in Garrison. Since that time, the Friars have worked for reconciliation and healing through “at-one-ment” End
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