Though paralyzed from the neck down as a young man, Servant of God Fr. Bill Atkinson, O.S.A. remained determined to follow his calling to become an Augustinian priest. Ordained the first quadriplegic priest by special papal dispensation in 1974, Fr. Bill served many years as a teacher, friar, and friend, shaking the notion of what a quadriplegic person can accomplish and inspiring those around him to look beyond their own limitations.
Join the Augustinian Friars, special lecturers, and friends and family of Fr. Bill for a symposium to discuss Fr. Bill’s extraordinary life and the Cause for his beatification and canonization. Also learn more about the theology of disability, which explores the ways in which the Bible and Christian traditions interact with the experience of human disability while deepening and challenging our understanding of God and humanity.
Schedule of Events
9:00 AM
Registration
9:30 AM
Welcome: Fr. Robert P. Hagan, O.S.A., Prior Provincial
Opening Remarks: Fr. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., President, Villanova University
Keynote Speaker: Brendan T. Sammon, Ph.D., Associate Professor, St. Joseph’s University, “The Spirituality of Disability”
Noon
Greetings: Most Reverend Nelson J. Perez, D.D., Archbishop of Philadelphia
Lunch
1:00 PM
Fr. Thomas F. Dailey, O.S.F.S., Professor of Theology, St. Charles of Borromeo Seminary, “The Cause for Canonization of Fr. Bill Atkinson, O.S.A.”
2:00 PM
Panel Discussion Featuring Fr. Bill’s Friends and Family
Michael Gaynor, Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Villanova University
Anne Marie Dolceamore, Assistant Principal, Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School
Joan Mullen, sister of Fr. Bill Atkinson, O.S.A.
Ted Donnelly, caretaker of Fr. Bill Atkinson, O.S.A.
3:15 PM
Closing
Sponsored by the Augustinian Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova and Villanova University.
Keynote Speaker: Brendan T. Sammon, Ph.D.
Brendan Thomas Sammon is an associate professor of systematic and historical theology at St. Joseph’s University, specializing in theology of beauty and the theology of disability. He is the author of The God Who Is Beauty (Pickwick, 2013), Called to Attraction (Cascade, 2017), editor of William Desmond and Contemporary Theology (Notre Dame Press, 2017), and the author of several articles appearing in scholarly journals and edited volumes. He is the husband of a beautiful woman from Brazil/Italy, and the proud father of a 14 year old son, and a 16 year old son with down syndrome.