Michele Louden
We would like to give thanks and praise to Father Bill Atkinson. As you know, Father Bill had his toboggan accident on 2/22/65. 57 years later, to the day, on 2/22/22 our son, Andrew was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer that spread throughout his body. Soon after that date, a family member who has a strong connection to Monsignor Bonner High School brought us a small piece of Father Bill’s clothing, which we immediately pinned to our son’s shirt. We prayed the beautiful prayer to Father Bill every single day and particularly before every single chemo treatment. The physical presence of his cloth brought us such comfort and strength.
Father Bill was with our son through every surgery and every chemo treatment. Six months to the day, on 8/22/22, our son had his last surgery and shortly thereafter was declared currently cancer-free. We know Father Bill advocated for us. We know he was with us throughout this journey. We know he gave Andrew and all of us the strength we needed to get through this nightmare. We still pray everyday to Father Bill thanking him for advocating for us and for staying so close to us. As we approach the one year mark since Andrew’s diagnosis, I picked up Father Bill’s prayer card again and noticed for the first time the words at the very bottom of the card, “For favors received, write to…” And so, I am writing this testimonial, to give thanks and honor to Father Bill. We are so grateful and so blessed to be able to say, we received the most amazing and valuable “favor” from God, we believe through Father Bill Atkinson. Our son’s life has been spared. He is currently cancer free, and even more remarkable, in just 6 months. We will forever sing his praises and be grateful for such a quick and visceral intercession from Father Bill Atkinson. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Michele, Michael, and Andrew Louden
One of my finest memories of Fr. Bill was from a homily he gave around 1977 to our formation community at Villanova. The Gospel was the story of the Prodigal Son. He ended the homily by asking the question “did the older son ever go into the banquet.” I usually include that question today when I am giving a homily on this parable. Given the many opportunities which are given to us, we each can ask ourselves the question if we enter the banquet today as much as we should. How powerful it is that from a homily 25 years ago that one question is still remembered today.
