Father Paul Wattson, S.A.

The Pioneer of Christian Unity

Lewis Thomas Wattson was born on January 16, 1863, in Millington, Maryland, the son of an Episcopal minister. He was raised in the Anglo-Catholic tradition and ordained an Episcopal priest in 1885. From his earliest years of ministry, he was consumed by a single question: how could the divided churches of Christendom be reunited? He took the name Paul James after the Apostles Paul and James, whose collaboration in the early Church modeled the unity he longed for.

In 1898, together with Mother Lurana White, he co-founded the Society of the Atonement at Graymoor in Garrison, New York. The community of Friars and Sisters lived under a Franciscan rule, dedicated to the reunion of all Christians. In 1908, Father Paul inaugurated the Chair of Unity Octave, eight days of prayer for Christian unity from January 18 to 25. This observance spread rapidly and is now celebrated worldwide as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, endorsed by the Vatican and the World Council of Churches alike.

On October 30, 1909, Father Paul led the entire Society of the Atonement into the Roman Catholic Church. It was one of the largest corporate conversions in American religious history. The community was received by the Archdiocese of New York, and Father Paul was ordained a Catholic priest in 1910. He spent the next three decades building the Graymoor community and expanding its apostolates.

In 1924, he co-founded the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), which supports Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches to this day. In 1934, he established St. Christopher’s Inn at Graymoor, a ministry for homeless and addicted men that still operates. In 1935, he launched “The Ave Maria Hour,” a radio program that broadcast Catholic drama and devotion until 1969. Father Paul died on February 8, 1940, at Graymoor. Cardinal Timothy Dolan formally opened his cause for canonization on September 22, 2015.

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