Green Bananas: The Wisdom of Father Bill Atkinson

Green Bananas: The Wisdom of Father Bill Atkinson by McWilliams, Steve. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780915180455.

Steve McWilliams volunteered to help Father Bill Atkinson wash and dress two days a week...Father Bill had been a golden boy in his youth, athletically gifted, handsome, bound for great things...Bill would say "God had other plans" As a young seminarian, he had suffered a terrible injury in a toboggan accident that left him paralyzed and on his presumed deathbed. With his mother at his bedside willing him to fight for every breath, he survived and woke up to find himself a quadriplegic, completely dependent on others to take care of ALL of his daily needs.Summoning a spirit that few can imagine, he determined that he would rejoin the seminary and despite urgings about the impossibility of his situation, he made history and became the first quadriplegic to be ordained a priest (in the 2-millenia history of the Catholic Church).Steve McWilliams entered his life as a volunteer and after a decade-long "warmup" (most men are slow to share deep feelings) the two men became trusted friends. Bill shared with Steve his thoughts, history, loves, hopes and fears…Steve became aware that their conversations should be shared, that Bill had much to share with Mankind and towards the end of Bills life, they recorded conversations ("Bill had editorial control to bleep out any embarrassing things he might say about family or fellow priests" McWilliams pleasantly recalled) and several years after Father Bill died, Steve decided to find a publisher and share Bills WISDOM with the world…Steve described it as being like "Tuesdays With Morrie…on Mondays and Wednesdays!" The hardcover edition sold out, but the book is now available in paperback from Harrowood Books (Publishers) and contains a photo section in the back of the book and several of Father Bills poems within the text.