ARTICLES

Priest Rallies East Bay Parish

IT TOOK AN EX-PRESBYTERIAN

By Karen Walker

A few years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Noell suffered the loss of their only child to a heart attack at age 36. Not long afterward, their daughter's fiancé died and later, Benjamin's mother. One bright spot in the tragedies was the compassion of their parish priest, Father Ronald Atwood of St. David's in the hills of Richmond.

"He was right there at our hour of need, just like he is with the other parishioners, and I'll never forget that," recalls Noell, who as a 20-year parishioner has seen several pastors come and go. Parishioner Barbara Sundahl agrees. "The thing that really sold me on him is that when my parents were ill and eventually died, he was wonderful, especially with my father."

Both parishioners point to the way Father Atwood has re-established parish priorities, enhanced the liturgy with traditional sacred music, and restored beauty and devotion to each Mass by adding a full pipe organ, a 35-member children's choir, a festival adult choir, brocade Gothic-style vestments, and most recently, 100-year-old stained glass windows. Parishioners note his harmonizing the parish school with the parish.

"It seems like he's always trying to improve the church and make it more like the house of God should be," explains Sundahl. "He has unified everything and he's always available. He has such good taste and a ceremony for just about everything. When you go to church on Sunday, you feel like you absolutely went to church!"

"People tell me they are hungry for reverence in the liturgy and for a deeper sense of devotion," says Father Atwood. "If that's what they find here at St. David's, then I'm extremely happy because that's what my purpose has been; to confront them with the beauty of the Mass and the Gospel with its hard truth. I think it's wrong to think people are at Mass to be entertained. This takes the focus off Jesus and the Sacrament."

Father Atwood notes that people don't always agree with this point of view. "I think there's been a lot of destruction done from within the Church and we need to do something to heal that. The Church has to find its unity and discipline again, people have been given a skewed view of the liturgy. We've been through a revolution during the Second Vatican Council and it's only been 30 years since then. But we live in a remarkable time in the history of the Church. There have been many good aspects developed during this time as well as damaging effects on people's faith."

Baptized Lutheran, Atwood was raised in Oregon as a Presbyterian, the oldest in a family of four. In high school, during a discussion with his Presbyterian minister, the minister told the young Atwood that he was "a classic example of what Catholics believe." At age 19, he opted to be confirmed in an Episcopal church. He joined a group which offered Catholic trappings, including solemn high "Mass" on Sundays. He entered the Anglican seminary and was ordained a priest, choosing to take an extra vow of celibacy, and assigned as pastor of an Episcopalian congregation in Oregon.

In 1977, Atwood was transferred to an Episcopal parish in Pleasant Hill, California, where he served as rector until his formal conversion to Catholicism which began in the summer of 1983. At the time he had his own house, a swimming pool, a comfortable pastorship. But he longed to "come home" to the Catholic Church.

Reflecting on these things, he recalls being convinced one clear summer evening that God approved of his longing. From that moment on, he knew he had to be sacramentally in union with the Roman Catholic Church, whether or not he could remain a priest.

He met with Bishop Cummins of the Oakland Diocese in August and at 10 a.m. on December 29, 1984 -- the exact hour and day of his ordination to the Episcopal priesthood 14 years prior -- he was ordained a Catholic priest.

Over the past 15 years, Father Atwood has served as associate pastor and pastor at several other parishes, including St. Joachim's in Hayward and Holy Spirit in Fremont. At each assignment he brings a master's degree in art history from Portland State University, a master's in theology from the seminary, and his years as a professional sculptor and painter.

And he brings an uncompromising embrace of Catholic teachings. Among the first things he did when he assumed pastorship of St. David's was institute First Friday devotions with benediction, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and adoration.

"Adoration hadn't taken place in this parish on a regular basis for 20 or 30 years," explains Father Atwood. "I wanted to emphasize my own faith in the real presence and re-establish some of the devotions that had been abandoned." Next, he emphasized the cleaning the sacred vessels of the Eucharist. "Such practices as using paper napkins are very contrary to how we are to dispose of the Precious Blood," Father Atwood notes. "We use the practice required by the sacramentary, going back through all the centuries and including Vatican II requirements, which insist on using linens to clean the chalice, and using altar cloths. This goes to the heart of remembering who we are serving and who it is we are respecting in the Mass."

He moved the side tabernacle to the center of the church and raised money to replace the back-to-back piano and organ with a full pipe organ. He hired a talented organist and choir master and began to fill the church with sacred music, especially at the 11:00 Sunday Mass. This is the one where "we pull out all the stops, including incense, asperges, Gregorian Chant at the Kyrie and Agnus Dei and using our full choir."

Father Atwood encourages the sacrament of confession in his homilies. "I take my role as a confessor very seriously, praying before I go into the confessional. That's because I know that on my end of it I've been so challenged and inspired by people's struggles. I see both in face-to-face and in the traditional mode, the gratitude and immense sense of relief of penitents, their cleanliness of heart."

"When I first came here," says Father Atwood, "there was lots of socializing before Mass and talking in the pews. It was hard for people who wanted to pray. Now you'll see people praying the Rosary or in silent prayer preparing for Mass."

For more information on St. David's parish (also known as St. David's of Wales parish), call the parish office at 510/237-1531.