Atonement - the word fairly popped off the pages as
the Reverend Lewis T. Wattson, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kingston, New
York, calmly scanned his King James Bible in an effort to obtain divine guidance about his
future. The year was 1893, when Father Wattson came to the eleventh verse of the fifth
chapter in the Epistle to the Romans, he saw the word “atonement” rise up from
the page and then he knew what it was God wanted him to do. Now he had a name for the new
religious community of preachers which he had been hoping for many years to establish
within the Episcopal Church. He would call it the “Society of the Atonement.”
Later, Father Wattson saw something else unusual about the word “atonement.” Divided into syllables, it read “at-one-ment.” This meant something special to him. The new Society, he decided, would be engaged in the work of “at-one-ment,” that is, in reconciling Christians and their churches, making them one, helping them to reflect their real unity in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. In 1893, that goal was an enormous one. Some critics said it could never be achieved because of the tremendous obstacles in the way. Others, however, believed that Christian unity is God’s will as revealed in the Scriptures and that no amount of Christian sin or division can prevent its realization.
Father Lewis Thomas Wattson was one of those believers. He loved the Christian Scriptures and could recite hundreds of passages by heart as a result of long hours of study and prayer each day. One of his favorite verses came from St. John’s Gospel which read: “That all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you; I pray that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me”(Jn.12:21). From that scriptural verse, Father Wattson drew inspiration and encouragement for his future and for the future of his new Society. As he envisioned the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer - “that all may be one...that the world may believe.” Christian unity and Christian mission would thus forever be the two inseparable goals of the members of the society of the Atonement.
Father Wattson’s first few attempts were sadly unsuccessful. At Kingston, New York, he tried to interest some of his parishioners in the proposed Society, but they would have none of it During the late nineteenth century, religious communities were still quite suspect within the Protestant Episcopal Church. Again in Omaha, Nebraska, Father Wattson joined a group of missionary priests at the Associate Mission. He thought he might gather them as the core of his community, but to no avail. Time was passing rapidly. It seemed that Father Wattson’s dream would come to naught.
One day in the spring of 1897, however, a letter for Father Wattson arrived
on his desk in Omaha. It came from a certain Miss Lurana White, a novice of the Episcopal
Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus in Albany, New York. In her letter, Miss White described
her frustrating search for a religious community whose members publicly professed the vow
of poverty and lived according to the Franciscan tradition. She asked Wattson’s help
in her search. Knowing of no such community, Father Wattson wrote Miss White about his own
long-standing hope of founding the Society of the Atonement, thus began a long
correspondence between them. Letter after letter, they continued discussing the
possibility of beginning the new Society and doing so together. Finally, they agreed that
their individual dreams were most compatible and that they should begin the Society of the
Atonement as soon as possible. They also decided that their community should adopt the
Franciscan tradition and be dedicated to the goal of promoting Christian unity and
mission.
In October 1898, Lewis Wattson and Lurana White met face-to-face for the first time at the White family home in Warwick, New York. There, Lewis and Lurana made a “covenant” with God and with one another, a formal agreement to found the society of the Atonement. But where to begin? Lurana suggested a spot across the Hudson River near the hamlet of Garrison, New York it was called Graymoor. Father Wattson went there immediately to visit and was encouraged by what he saw - a tiny chapel and an old farmhouse standing in the midst of a “howling wilderness,” as some then called Graymoor. Howling wilderness or not, Lurana White decided to leave her comfortable home in Warwick and spend the winter of 1898 at Graymoor in the rustic farmhouse which was near the chapel of St. John’s -in-the-Wilderness. Later the following year, Father Wattson also went to Graymoor where he lived in an old paint shack which he called his “ Palace of Lady Poverty,” the experiment with tradition had begun in earnest.
Now that the Society
had been founded, Father Wattson and Sister White strove to translate their ideals into
action. In the early years, their special aim was to convince Anglicans that they should
unite with the Roman Catholic Church. Naturally, their message was not very popular among
Episcopalians and other members of the Anglican Communion. Despite fierce opposition,
however, the two founders courageously continued to proclaim the goal of Christian unity
for the sake of Christian mission. Father Wattson, who had taken the religious name
“Paul,” soon discovered that very few pulpits of the Episcopal Church were open
to him. The Society’s benefactors ceased sending donations, and Sister Lurana had to
travel to New York City with some of the other sisters to beg funds at subway turnstiles.
Though life at Graymoor was difficult in those early years, the two founders persevered
nevertheless. They were certain that real happiness lay not in success or wealth or
popularity, but in doing God’s will by imitating Jesus Christ the Reconciler and by
following the path of Francis of Assisi, the Little Poor Man. Such was their commitment as
Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement.
By 1907, the Wattson-White experiment with tradition was moving toward a crisis. In that year, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved a resolution that allowed ministers of other Christian churches to preach from Episcopal pulpits if the local bishop approved. Father Paul and Sister Lurana could not accept that decision. For years they had been appealing for Anglican reunion with Rome, provided the distinctive character of Anglicanism in liturgy, law, and lifestyle could be maintained after unity had been achieved. Now, it seemed to them that the distinctiveness of Anglicanism was being threatened by the General Convention’s decision to allow ministers belonging to other churches to preach from the pulpits of the Episcopal Church. The experiment had indeed reached a boiling-point.
After nearly two years filled with anguish and spiritual torment, Father Paul and Sister Lurana decided that they and their companions should leave the Episcopal Church and become Roman Catholic. Only a person who has made a decision of similar magnitude can really appreciate both the agony and the relief which the two founders must have experienced as they were forced to re-cast their experiment and begin it once again, this time in the Roman Catholic Church. Late in October 1909, Father Paul, Sister Lurana, and a few companions were received into the Roman Catholic Church by Monsignor Joseph Conroy, a friend from Ogdensburg, New York, and later the third bishop of the diocese. For the first time since the days of the Reformation the members of an entire religious community had become Roman Catholics on a corporate rather than individual basis.
As Roman Catholics, Father Paul and Mother Lurana continued their bold experiment. Two religious communities, one of friars and one of sisters, now constituted the Society of the Atonement. At first, the two founders were no more popular than they had been in the Episcopal Church. Many Roman Catholics thought that the friars and sisters at Graymoor were still “secret Protestants.” It took many years to overcome that reputation, but the experiment went on all the same.
Many of the projects which had already been begun in the Episcopal Church were expanded under Roman Catholic auspices. The Lamp, a magazine devoted to Christian unity and mission, was published monthly for a much wider audience. The Union-That-Nothing-Be Lost, an organization which aided missionaries, grew larger and more enthusiastic. St. Christopher’s Inn, an expression of the Society’s commitment to Franciscan ideals, continued to receive thousands of homeless, needy men each year, providing them with hospitality in the spirit of St. Francis. Among Roman Catholics, the Church Unity Octave, later known as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, was vigorously promoted every year from January 18 to 25. As the originator of the Church Unity Octave, Father Paul was concerned that ordinary Christians should understand Christian unity as a realistic goal for the churches, not some vague, impossible dream for which they had the option of praying or not.
Meanwhile, the Friars and Sisters of the Atonement we growing impressively
in numbers. Roman Catholic men and women were attracted by the founders’ vision of
Christian unity for the sake of Christian mission. Soon they had spread far and wide
outside the United States to Canada, Italy, England, Ireland, Japan and Brazil. By 1935
when Mother Lurana died, the Society of the Atonement was firmly established within the
Roman Catholic Church. Five years later in 1940; Father Paul’s earthly career ended.
Although he did not live to see his dream of Christian unity fully achieved, he and Mother
Lurana had experimented well with tradition, having sown the seed for a rich harvest in
the future.
Today, the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement are engaged in diverse ministries on behalf of Christian unity and mission throughout the world. Faithful to the ecumenical and missionary vision of their foundress, Mother Lurana, who wanted her Sisters “to have many foundations, small and poor, but rich in charity toward God, one another and the souls of men” the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement today have spread to six countries - the United States, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Japan and Brazil.
We are involved in religious education, social welfare, community development programs, pastoral, hospital and prison ministries, home visitation, adult day care, child day care and kindergartens, youth ministry, justice and peace work and guest and retreat house ministries.
The Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement are continuing to pursue their founders’ experiment with tradition in order “that all may be one.. that the world may believe.” They truly know that real joy is found in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and in the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi as those were exemplified in the lives of their founders, Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White. With them, they can boldly proclaim the scriptural words: We Joy In God Through Our Lord Jesus Christ By Whom We Have Now received The Atonement.