Bonner’s Father Atkinson Now Subject of PBS Documentary Nov. 1
“ExtraORDINARY/The Bill Atkinson Story,” will air on WHYY Sunday, Nov. 1, 5 p.m., in celebration of All Saints Day, writes Peg DeGrassa for the Daily Times.
Father Atkinson, who taught at Monsignor Bonner High School from 1975 until 2004, is the first quadriplegic priest to be ordained in Catholic Church history.
The documentary looks at his life from his hospitalization and near death as a teenager to potential sainthood.
Born in 1946, Father Bill was an Upper Darby native who went to St. Alice Elementary School, then Bonner. He entered the Order of St. Augustine as a novice at Our Mother of Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, N.Y. in 1964.
He suffered a tobogganing accident that left him a quadriplegic and was hospitalized in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He spent a year at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia.
Although he had only limited movement in his head, neck, shoulders and arms, he was determined to continue his studies to become an Augustinian priest.
He continued his novitiate at Villanova University in 1969.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1974. Steps are underway for his canonization.
The documentary is produced by Philadelphia native Tom Farrell. He and his brother were both students of Atkinson at Bonner.
Read more about this upcoming documentary in the Daily Times.
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