Please join in and welcome Fr. Arthur Johnson as a priest assigned to Christ the Redeemer. Fr. Art is a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. This brief description is from the Atonement Friars’ website:

“Headquartered at Graymoor in Garrison, New York, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement are a Roman Catholic religious community with social, ecumenical and pastoral ministries in the United States, Canada, England, Italy and Japan.

“From the time of its foundation by Father Paul Wattson in 1898, reconciliation and healing through AT-ONE-MENT - the unity of men and women with God and one another - has been the mission of the Friars' work and ministries to people of every race, religion, and walk of life.”

Born in Darby, Pennsylvania—a Philadelphia suburb—in 1950, Fr. Art was the first of 4 boys. His dad was a postal worker and his mom stopped working when he was born. Raised in Havertown, Pennsylvania, he attended Catholic school there growing up in same grade school and parish that his parents did.

“I always knew I wanted to be either a train engineer (maybe because my grandfather was a conductor on the then Pennsylvania Railroad), or a priest. When I was in 6th grade, the Sister spoke of a religious community dedicated to praying and working for Christian Unity, viz. the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. That caught my imagination. The rest, as they say, is history. I went to St. John's Atonement Seminary in Montour Falls, New York, for high school.”

Fr. Art received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Villanova University in 1972, then worked for master’s degrees in theology (1975) and educational and pastoral ministry (1977) from Catholic University and Emmanuel College, respectively. After taking his vows as a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement in 1973, he was ordained in 1977.

Fr. Art started his ministry in Brockton, Massachusetts, where the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement staff the Chapel of Our Savior, which is a mall ministry. As a pastoral associate, Fr. Art assisted in adult formation, provided pastoral counseling as well as sacramental ministry.

After two years in Brockton, Fr. Art crossed the continent to spend the next six years of his life in Los Angeles working as Executive Secretary on the Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. By its nature, Los Angeles is famous for its diversity, and was a natural for such a commission. Fr. Art worked with people and groups of various ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds, identifying issues of mutual concern and conflict, facilitating discussion with the aim of resolving such issues.

While involved in ecumenical and interreligious activities, he completed the Certificate Program in Alcohol and Drug Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “I took those courses to help me discern if I might want to minister at St. Christopher’s Inn at Graymoor or St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Center in Saranac Lake, NY.” In 1984 Fr. Art began working in the alcohol/drug treatment unit of Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center. While there, Fr. Art discovered he preferred management and acquainted himself with the various issues and challenges involved in health care administration.

Between the years 1987 and 1989, Fr. Art was the operations manager at the Southern California Indian Center. Los Angeles had the largest urban American Indian population in the U.S. The SCIC primarily provided employment and job training services American Indian, Native Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian people. At that time, SCIC had just expanded into two counties and five service centers. As operations manager, Fr. Art needed to coordinate various activities and assist SCIC in developing the processes to serve all of the additional clients in diverse locations.

In 1989, Fr. Art returned to the East Coast, assigned to the position of President and CEO at St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Center, Inc. in Saranac Lake, New York. The Center is a ministry sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and provides inpatient, outpatient and community residential alcoholism and substance abuse services. Over half of those participating in the inpatient and residential services were homeless men and women. During his ten years at St. Joseph’s, Fr. Art, along with the executive team, embarked on new construction, expansion of services, developing mission awareness and participation for all members of the staff and prepared St. Joseph’s for the changing realities of the healthcare field. A major portion of Fr. Art’s time was spent doing advocacy work in Albany and occasionally in Washington, DC.

Fr. Art was elected Minister General of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement in 1989 and he moved to Garrison, New York. As Minister General, he traveled to the five countries in which Friars minister. Sensing the decline in the number of priests and brothers, not only in the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement but universally, Fr. Art initiated action to address strategic planning for the plant facilities at Graymoor, and also in regards to ministries, tackling the difficult choices needed to maintain the diverse contributions of the Order with fewer and fewer priests and brothers. As the Minister General, Fr. Art concelebrated a private Mass with the late Pope John Paul II.

After a year’s sabbatical, Fr. Art finds himself at Christ the Redeemer Parish in Sterling Virginia. Make no assumptions, though. Fr. Art has visited the Parish many times, and the Church in Sterling has seen and listened to him on many occasions. In fact, Fr. Art helped plant a tree in 1978 on the grounds that would eventually become the Parish Center; the picture of Fr. Art and Fr. Bill Schmidt proves it.

So, what of Fr. Art’s ministry in Sterling? Fr. Art’s background and work for nearly three decades has been primarily in human services and administration, not parish work. He has made a commitment to Christ the Redeemer for one year of service. He calls this is his “year of learning” in regards to the many dimensions of parish ministry and how his skills and interests might enhance the faith community of Christ the Redeemer Parish. It is the diversity of the parish that intrigues Fr. Art. “More importantly it is the vibrancy of faith, shown by participation at Mass, involvement in the various ministries, and activities of the parish and the warmth and vitality of the people that makes me realize how awesome Christ the Redeemer is.”