The chicken fat dripped onto the charcoals and sizzled and flared and smoked. And the baseball game was loud on the radio. The announcer between play by play activity talked about a frosty cold bottle of beer. Those simple words ended months of sobriety. It must be...
A few years ago, I was at a wedding when I was struck by the particular charism of the priest offering the ceremony. He was warm, relaxed, and extremely welcoming. He also could read a room, which was reflected in the way he presented his homily to a largely...
Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Step Five: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. I was warned by my sponsor that many people find Step Four and Step Five very difficult—some...
"Every man who enters a brothel is looking for God.” This quote, attributed to G.K. Chesterton, is one of the foundational concepts of Saint John Paul II's “Theology of the Body,” which is a collection of talks the pope gave on human sexuality. Theology of the Body...
I remember it clearly. I was a freshman in high school and an older teammate from the football team was having a “kegger” party. This wouldn’t be the first time I tasted alcohol, but it would be the first time I drank heavily and liked it. It was only one night but it...
When many of us in recovery approach Step Four (make a “searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves”), it often seems like a daunting task. Most of us living with an active addiction do not spend a lot of time looking at ourselves in a critical way. For many...
Jay Stringer, author of Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing, suggests that before we will ever find our way clear of unwanted sexual behavior, we must first look at what our behaviors reveal about us. While I continue to struggle with the idea...
My Catholic faith has always been a major part of my recovery since day one. Being continuously told from the beginning that selfishness was at the root of all my troubles, I knew I had to change. And what model better to follow for unselfishness than that of Jesus?...
The Twelve Steps of recovery and the sacraments of the Catholic Church work in a very similar way. While some of the steps and each of the sacraments have great ritual and reverence around them regarding initiation, each are to be continually practiced. Finding a...
The following is a short excerpt from Scott's upcoming book, The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments: A Catholic Journey through Recovery: One of the most beautiful moments of the Catholic Church’s liturgical year takes place during the Easter Vigil when new members of...