Fr. Davenport loves being a priest. It all started as a good reason for him to miss a day of school, but it became the passion of his life. As a young boy, he told his parents that he was taking the exams for priesthood. He was living in Berkeley and had to come to Mountain View (thus missing grammar school classes) to take the test. To his parent's bewilderment--and his own, he passed and entered the seminary.

That mischievous boy had a hard time accepting the strict rules of his new life, but God entered his heart and worked on him. Before long, he wholeheartedly embraced the commitment and knew he had made the right decision.

Right after ordination Fr. Davenport joined the Army Reserve unit in San Francisco. He was frequently asked to bring the sacraments to young soldiers, and he loved talking to the "kids."

One day during the Korean war, his Commander called him in the office to say that he was looking for someone to send as chaplain to the war zone. Fr. Davenport, still young and naive, named a few people that he thought would be a good fit. Imagine his astonishment when he learned that the boss had HIM in mind!

Fr Davenport served in the Korean and Vietnam wars, ministering to dying soldiers, saying sometimes seven Masses a day (nine on Sundays), and managing to escape all the violence around him. Once, a bullet went through his fatigues without injuring him. From there on, he was known as "Father Lucky."

In his words, he was "boss, confessor, and friend" to many in the war zone. It was hard to see the young men die but God steeled him to it.

Between his military assignments, he was a Parochial Vicar in the early 60's and Pastor at a few parishes in the San Francisco Archdiocese. He was Pastor at Nativity Church from 1976 to 1999, retiring then. In 2005 he returned and has been in residence at Nativity as Pastor Emeritus.