The Soul of Sponsorship

The Soul of Sponsorship
Author: Robert Fitzgerald
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2011-03-04
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 161649123X

The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling. Many might consider that such a remarkable individual as Bill Wilson, who was the primary author of AA literature, would be able to deal with many of life's problems on his own. Reading The Soul of Sponsorship will illuminate and answer the question of how Father Ed, an Irish Catholic Jesuit priest who was not an alcoholic, was able to be of such great help to Bill Wilson. Part of AA's Twelfth Step reminds us "to carry this message to alcoholics," and The Soul of Sponsorship illustrates how sober alcoholics still need the principles of the Twelve Steps brought to them by friends, sponsors, and spiritual advisers. Some of the problems faced by Bill Wilson were: - depression in recovery - dependency issues - whether or not to experiment with LSD - the place of money and power in AA - knowing God's plan and will - learning from mistakes Father Ed taught Bill the importance of "discernment." In Father Ed's Jesuit tradition, discernment was a gift, passed down to him from St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, who described his own struggle with discernment in The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Twelve Steps of AA and The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius presuppose that there is a caring God whose will can be known. The act of tuning in to God's action at one's center is discernment. The big question is, how do you know your Higher Power is speaking and revealing Himself through your feelings and desires? For the good of AA and himself, Bill learned to listen to his desires, be aware of his inner dynamics, and tune into the action of God within. Doing this meant learning to recognize and identify his personal movements -- those inner promptings and attractions often called emotions or affections -- which are part of ordinary human experiences. The person who helped Bill grow in discernment was Father Ed, the Jesuit priest with a cane who limped into the New York AA clubhouse one sleet-filled November night in 1940. The two "fellow travelers," Father Ed Dowling and Bill Wilson, gave each other perhaps the greatest gift friends can give: calling on each to know who he is -- before God.

Father Ed Dowling

Father Ed Dowling
Author: Glenn F. Chesnut
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 675
Release: 2015-07-17
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1491770872

The story of Father Ed Dowling, S.J., the Jesuit priest who served for twenty years as sponsor and spiritual guide to Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. An icy evening in December 1940 saw the first meeting of two extraordinary spiritual leaders. Father Ed said that the graces he received from meeting Bill Wilson were as great as those he had received from his ordination as a priest, and Bill in turn described encountering the Jesuit as being like a second conversion experience, where he could feel the transcendent presence of God filling the entire room with grace. The good priest taught Wilson about St. Ignatius Loyolas Spiritual Exercises, about the eternal battle between good and evil which the Spanish saint described in that book, and explained the Jesuit understanding of the way we can use our deepest emotions to receive guidance from God while serving on that battlefield. The co-founder of the twelve step movement in turn supplied Father Ed with some of the most valuable tools he possessed for carrying out small group therapy on a wide range of different kinds of troubled people. Together the two men discussed Poulains Graces of Interior Prayer and Bills attempts to make spiritual contact with both spooks and saints, and explored the world of LSD experiences and the teachings of the Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhist mystics in Aldous Huxleys Perennial Philosophy. And we will see how Father Ed, with his deep social conscience, helped Bill W. turn his book on the Twelve Traditions into a Bill of Rights for the twelve step movement, and how he laid out his own spiritual vision of Alcoholics Anonymous at the A.A. International in St. Louis in 1955.

Sobriety and Beyond

Sobriety and Beyond
Author: Father John Doe
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2011-04-29
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1616490829

Father Ralph Pfau, known originally as Father "John Doe" traces the spiritual roots of Alcoholics Anonymous and explains the fundamental and enduring truths contained in the Twelve Steps. This is a wonderful resource for discovering the spiritual contentment, mental peace and everyday joys to be found in the Twelve Steps.

When Man Listens

When Man Listens
Author: Cecil Rose
Publisher: carl (tuchy) palmieri
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2008-07-09
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9781419663185

Reprint of an edition published in New York in 1937 by Oxford University Press.

Sobriety Without End

Sobriety Without End
Author: Father John Doe
Publisher: Hazelden Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-10-05
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 9781616494742

In this popular successor to Sobriety and Beyond, the author freely discusses the everyday problems that beset the paths of the unwary.Serenity is the key to long-term sobriety, and Father Doe explains how to get it, nurture it and keep it for a lifetime. Father Doe believes that by continually growing both mentally and spiritually we strengthen our sobriety and prepare ourselves to deal with all the challenges life has in store for us.

A Biography of Mrs Marty Mann

A Biography of Mrs Marty Mann
Author: Sally Brown
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2011-06-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1616491418

Marty Mann was the first woman to achieve long-term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous, and she inspired thousands of others, especially women, to help themselves. The little-known life of Marty Mann rivals a Masterpiece Theatre drama. She was born into a life of wealth and privilege, sank to the lowest depths of poverty and despair, then rose to inspire thousands of others, especially women, to help themselves. The first woman to achieve long-term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous, Marty Mann advocated the understanding that alcoholism is an issue of public health, not morality. In their fascinating book, Sally and David Brown shed light on this influential figure in recovery history. Born in Chicago in 1905, Marty was favored with beauty, brains, charisma, phenomenal energy, and a powerful will. She could also out drink anyone in her group of social elites. When her father became penniless, she was forced into work, landed a lucrative public relations position, and a decade later was destitute because of her drinking. She was committed to a psychiatric center in 1938-a time when the term alcoholism was virtually unknown, the only known treatment was "drying out," and two men were compiling the book Alcoholics Anonymous. Marty read it on the recommendation of psychiatrist Dr. Harry Tiebout: it was her first step toward sobriety and a long, illustrious career as founder of the National Council on Alcoholism, or NCA.In the early 1950s, journalist Edward R. Murrow selected Marty as one of the 10 greatest living Americans. Marty died of a stroke in 1980, shortly after addressing the AA international convention in New Orleans.This is a story of one woman's indefatigable effort and indomitable spirit, compellingly told by Sally and David Brown.

Father Fred and the Twelve Steps

Father Fred and the Twelve Steps
Author: Frederick A. Harkins
Publisher: Paulist Press
Total Pages: 172
Release: 1996-09
Genre: Alcoholics
ISBN: 9780964643987

A profound and practical approach to the Twelve Steps and how to incorporate them into daily life. +

Writing the Big Book

Writing the Big Book
Author: William H. Schaberg
Publisher: Central Recovery Press
Total Pages: 725
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1949481298

The definitive history of writing and producing the"Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous, told through extensive access to the group's archives. Alcoholics Anonymous is arguably the most significant self-help book published in the twentieth century. Released in 1939, the “Big Book,” as it’s commonly known, has sold an estimated 37 million copies, been translated into seventy languages, and spawned numerous recovery communities around the world while remaining a vibrant plan for recovery from addiction in all its forms for millions of people. While there are many books about A.A. history, most rely on anecdotal stories told well after the fact by Bill Wilson and other early members—accounts that have proved to be woefully inaccurate at times. Writing the Big Book brings exhaustive research, academic discipline, and informed insight to the subject not seen since Ernest Kurtz’s Not-God, published forty years ago. Focusing primarily on the eighteen months from October 1937, when a book was first proposed, and April 1939 when Alcoholics Anonymous was published, Schaberg’s history is based on eleven years of research into the wealth of 1930s documents currently preserved in several A.A. archives. Woven together into an exciting narrative, these real-time documents tell an almost week-by-week story of how the book was created, providing more than a few unexpected turns and surprising departures from the hallowed stories that have been so widely circulated about early A.A. history. Fast-paced, engaging, and contrary, Writing the Big Book presents a vivid picture of how early A.A. operated and grew and reveals many previously unreported details about the colorful cast of characters who were responsible for making that group so successful.

A New Pair of Glasses

A New Pair of Glasses
Author: Chuck C.
Publisher: New Look Publishing Company
Total Pages: 143
Release: 1984
Genre: Alcoholics
ISBN: 9780916733001

Dr. Bob and Bill W. Speak

Dr. Bob and Bill W. Speak
Author: Michael Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2012-10-30
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1616494514

Learn about the luminaries behind one of the greatest social movements of our time through the never-before-published recordings, letters, and stories found in this intimate multimedia retrospective. Learn about the luminaries behind one of the greatest social movements of our time through the never–before–published recordings, letters, and stories found in this intimate multimedia retrospective.This unique book and audio CD draw on letters, journal entries, and speeches from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) conferences, and recorded conversations to tell the personal stories of AA cofounders Dr. Bob and Bill W. The book and CD reveal the cofounders’ unique contributions to the creation and development of AA, the Big Book, and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The book explores their lives, starting with their early drinking days, while the audio recordings begin with their first speeches in the 1940s and continue through Bill W.’s last talk given at the Miami International Convention in 1970, just months before he died.AA historian and archivist Michael Fitzpatrick used his research conducted at Stepping Stones (the former home of Bill W.) and Dr. Bob’s home, excerpts from the AA Grapevine, and his own private collection to offer this multimedia retrospective.