Recent Posts
The Gift of the Inner “Loving Parent” for Adult Children of Alcoholics
For members of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA), part of our solution for healing is to become our own loving parents. We do this through 12-step work and by taking a blameless inventory of our caregivers to recognize the wounds that we received from them so that we...
All Things Unholy: From Sexual Addiction to Merciful Liberation
I remember the moment I came to terms with my addiction: the moment I stepped out of denial and into God’s healing light. I had no idea what would happen. I was scared and overwhelmed with guilt and shame. I had gone almost twenty years without openly acknowledging...
Three “Catholic” Myths About Self-care (and How to Debunk Them)
Everybody in any kind of recovery knows how cunning and patient those old thought patterns are, just waiting to sneak back up on us in the middle of a stressful day. So it really wasn’t any surprise to me when, on one of those recent stressful days, I was passing by...
Stuck or Still? How a Food Addict Can Tell the Difference
Even before entering into recovery for my food addiction, I had heard a slogan that kind of, sort of made sense…but didn’t really. Don’t just do something. Sit there. I knew at least intellectually that it meant, “Stop trying so hard. Stop being a perfectionist. Let...
Dante and Recovery Part 1: Into the Inferno
“I think and judge it best for you to follow me, and I shall guide you, where you shall hear the howls of desperation and see the ancient spirits in their pain… When he advanced, I followed and I entered the steep and savage path...” Inferno (Cantos 2, 3) I was never...
My CIR Retreat Experience: Recovery Fellowship as the Kingdom of God
About four years ago, before I got involved with Catholic in Recovery, I started to see some of the fault lines and divisions in the Church. It was at this moment that I began to shift my thinking from “the Twelve Steps need the Church” to “the Church needs the 12...
CIR Meeting Fosters Faith, Recovery, and a Vocation to Marriage
For years, Sharon was a compulsive overeater who struggled with diabetes and other weight problems because of her unhealthy attachment to food. “There was a lot of crying out to God over the years. Finally, I stopped asking for a miracle and started asking for help,...
Join a Eucharistic Revival and Experience Christ’s Healing Mercy
Starting back on June 19th, 2022 (the Feast of Corpus Christi), the Catholic Bishops of the United States began a call to action for a national “grassroots effort” for members of the Church—Christ’s Body—to place the Holy Eucharist at the center of our lives. You can...
The Blessings of Being a Catholic in Recovery Group Leader
When I came into the rooms of recovery many years ago, I was told I had to “Trust God, Clean House, and Help Others.” In addition to the step work and building a relationship with God, I had to give the solution away to others and serve if I wanted to have a...
Trust God, Clean House, and Work with Others
Each year that passes of my sobriety I’m reminded of my blessings and the gratitude that I owe to the people in the fellowship of AA who shared how they remained sober and pointed me back to God. I also think often about a phrase that was used in some of my early AA...
The Gift of the Inner “Loving Parent” for Adult Children of Alcoholics
For members of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA), part of our solution for healing is to become our own loving parents. We do this through 12-step work and by taking a blameless inventory of our caregivers to recognize the wounds that we received from them so that we...
All Things Unholy: From Sexual Addiction to Merciful Liberation
I remember the moment I came to terms with my addiction: the moment I stepped out of denial and into God’s healing light. I had no idea what would happen. I was scared and overwhelmed with guilt and shame. I had gone almost twenty years without openly acknowledging...
Three “Catholic” Myths About Self-care (and How to Debunk Them)
Everybody in any kind of recovery knows how cunning and patient those old thought patterns are, just waiting to sneak back up on us in the middle of a stressful day. So it really wasn’t any surprise to me when, on one of those recent stressful days, I was passing by...
Stuck or Still? How a Food Addict Can Tell the Difference
Even before entering into recovery for my food addiction, I had heard a slogan that kind of, sort of made sense…but didn’t really. Don’t just do something. Sit there. I knew at least intellectually that it meant, “Stop trying so hard. Stop being a perfectionist. Let...
Dante and Recovery Part 1: Into the Inferno
“I think and judge it best for you to follow me, and I shall guide you, where you shall hear the howls of desperation and see the ancient spirits in their pain… When he advanced, I followed and I entered the steep and savage path...” Inferno (Cantos 2, 3) I was never...
My CIR Retreat Experience: Recovery Fellowship as the Kingdom of God
About four years ago, before I got involved with Catholic in Recovery, I started to see some of the fault lines and divisions in the Church. It was at this moment that I began to shift my thinking from “the Twelve Steps need the Church” to “the Church needs the 12...
CIR Meeting Fosters Faith, Recovery, and a Vocation to Marriage
For years, Sharon was a compulsive overeater who struggled with diabetes and other weight problems because of her unhealthy attachment to food. “There was a lot of crying out to God over the years. Finally, I stopped asking for a miracle and started asking for help,...
Join a Eucharistic Revival and Experience Christ’s Healing Mercy
Starting back on June 19th, 2022 (the Feast of Corpus Christi), the Catholic Bishops of the United States began a call to action for a national “grassroots effort” for members of the Church—Christ’s Body—to place the Holy Eucharist at the center of our lives. You can...
The Blessings of Being a Catholic in Recovery Group Leader
When I came into the rooms of recovery many years ago, I was told I had to “Trust God, Clean House, and Help Others.” In addition to the step work and building a relationship with God, I had to give the solution away to others and serve if I wanted to have a...
Trust God, Clean House, and Work with Others
Each year that passes of my sobriety I’m reminded of my blessings and the gratitude that I owe to the people in the fellowship of AA who shared how they remained sober and pointed me back to God. I also think often about a phrase that was used in some of my early AA...