CIR GROWTH 2023
GREETINGS
To the Catholic in Recovery Community and Our Supporters |
This summer I spent 70 days driving around the country and got to visit Catholic in Recovery groups along the way. During this trip, I had a chance to participate in recovery meetings, learn from the experience of participants, and offer formation and training to volunteer leaders in 16 different states. In addition, we led a Catholic in Recovery retreat at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL and I presented in front of a group of diocesan leaders for an event held by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame.
What I witnessed during my trip was a profound transformation taking place in the lives of Catholic in Recovery community members who were once enslaved by addiction or suffering with a loved one’s addiction and are now living freely. I’ve witnessed families reuniting. I’ve witnessed dozens of members returning to or joining the Catholic Church. And I’ve witnessed hope being restored and lives being saved.
Reaching Souls | I recall a conversation that I had with a woman in North Myrtle Beach, SC after attending their Friday night General Recovery Meeting. We’ll call her Tonya. Tonya shared about finding Overeaters Anonymous (OA) and Al-Anon about 40 years ago while dealing with family addiction challenges and overeating compulsively. It saved her life at the time. However, her participation in those fellowships began to take the place of her participation in the Catholic Church. About 10 years ago, she found herself a bit disillusioned with secular 12-step recovery and slowly stepped away from it.
After feeling lost and looking for something different, Tonya moved to Myrtle Beach about a year-and-a-half ago. Shortly after, a friend referred her to a Catholic radio show during which I was a guest and she went online to find a Catholic in Recovery group in her new community. Since then, Tonya has returned to fully participating in the Catholic Church, is active in her local Catholic in Recovery group, and has made a return to OA and Al-Anon meetings. Her story is nothing short of miraculous and it was an honor to receive her gratitude for the community we’re building. In whatever way I can, I would like to extend her gratitude to you for your generous support and being part of our growing community.
The Need | When I founded Catholic in Recovery in 2015, I never saw any of this coming. After my own experience with the darkness of alcoholism and drug addiction, I merely started a website to share experience, strength, and hope related to 12-step addiction recovery and the traditions of the Catholic Church. There were very few Catholic resources that touched on addiction or 12-step recovery, and I was providing a modest resource that I thought would be helpful for myself and other people like me. People were sharing some of my articles on Facebook and a small audience grew, providing feedback and their own personal experience. I was working out of my spare bedroom and meeting people at coffee shops.
About six months after launching the website, I was greeted with a message from Lisa Hendey representing Ave Maria Press inviting me to draft a book proposal as they saw a need for more resources in the Church related to addiction recovery. My proposal for The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments was accepted on Holy Thursday 2016 and the book was published in November 2017. While the manuscript was being written, I was asked to give a few talks at local parishes in San Diego. The best part of those events was when I was done speaking and others had a chance to share experience, strength, and hope around their own addiction challenges, their recovery, or the pain of dealing with a loved one’s addiction. It was clear we needed to keep bringing people together with an organized meeting format and resources.
Growth | In January 2017, the first Catholic in Recovery General Recovery Meeting was held at St. Joseph Cathedral. Two more groups began in San Diego later that year – one for men seeking recovery from lust addiction and another for family members impacted by a loved one’s addiction. In 2018, groups began in Portland, OR, Albuquerque, NM, and Columbus, OH. As of today, there are over 90 active CIR groups in 30 states across the country as well as six in Canada and two in Mexico. Our first group in Europe is preparing to start before the end of the year.
In 2020 when the pandemic hit, we immediately began virtual meetings—about 5 per week. It provided a means for anyone around the world to connect with the Catholic in Recovery community and has been a place where recovery and new relationships have been born. We now have 50 weekly CIR meetings taking place via Zoom. Over 1,000 people from all corners of the globe participate in Catholic in Recovery virtual meetings every week. Hundreds of people are currently working through the Twelve Steps and integrating the sacraments with the aid of The Catholic in Recovery Workbook (2022) and a sponsor or small workbook group.
I had a chance to meet one young man named Justin who is working through the Twelve Steps with a local sponsor in Indiana. He shared with me that he moved to Indiana from Charlotte about three years ago to receive in-patient treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction after struggling to get sober for nearly 15 years. When he got out, he lived in a half-way house for a while, got a job, found his own apartment, and started turning his life around.
Rather than turning back to alcohol and drugs during a difficult bout that many face during early recovery, he instead turned to God and looked to deepen his faith. In his exploration of the Catholic Church, he found Catholic in Recovery and a local group that accompanied him through sobriety and, ultimately, full reception into the Church. He is now using The Catholic in Recovery Workbook with his sponsor to integrate the sacraments into his recovery and finding meaningful relationships and camaraderie among his local CIR group.
Much has developed over the past eight years. I became we. We moved operations from my spare bedroom to an office at Saint Brigid Parish (where my wife and I were serving the young adult community) to our new headquarters. In addition to hundreds of volunteers around the world, I have hired three other employees – a Director of Recovery, a Graphic Designer, and most recently an Operations Officer who was volunteering for nine months before being hired. In addition, two contracted workers have valuable positions on our team including a Director of Content and Executive Assistant.
A Call for Help | We are in an exciting transition where the revenue being generated by CIR+ subscriptions, merchandise sales, and services will contribute to roughly half of our standard operating expenses within the next twelve months. Since we began, we have relied on the charitable support of donors to subsidize most of our operating expenses. As we transition to greater viability, we still count on the generosity of our community and supporters. As outlined below, your help goes a long way to make many exciting opportunities a reality, such as hosting our first annual convention next fall, providing additional CIR retreats around North America, adapting our resources into Spanish, printing books and pamphlets that are now only available electronically, developing video resources for specific addiction experiences, and investing in the start of a Catholic in Recovery podcast to share a message of hope and healing to a broader audience.
We stand at a turning point where we can scale our efforts to help an estimated 10,000 individuals who are impacted by addiction by the end of 2024. This is the next step in our long-term vision of having Catholic in Recovery meetings and resources in every Catholic diocese around the world. Our concept of bringing together individuals and families seeking freedom from addiction to find hope and healing through the Twelve Steps and the sacraments is proving to work—the impact we can have around the world is nearly unlimited.
Will you help us bring this vision closer to reality with a one-time donation or a monthly recurring gift? I understand that each of us have a different capacity to give and I am grateful for you considering any type of financial support to help individuals and families impacted by addiction. You can make a difference in the life of someone like Tonya or Jason. To get a better idea of the impact your financial support can make, consider the following:
ONE-TIME GIFTS
ONE-TIME GIFTS
$200 DONATION
subsidizes the internal net cost of starting one in-person
CIR meeting
(5 of 50)
$500 DONATION
goes to a fund offering scholarships for two individuals who would like to attend a CIR retreat in the next year but are unable to afford it
(3 of 12)
$750 DONATION
allows us to print 500 copies of one of our ebooks including the CIR Sponsorship Guide, Rosary Reflections, CIR Novena, and seasonal reflections
(1 of 10)
$1,500 DONATION
covers our internal costs to host one retreat for individuals and families impacted by addiction in the next year with an average attendance of 50 people
(goal of 7)
$2,500 DONATION
goes toward development of a Catholic in Recovery podcast in partnership with a reputable Catholic media company
(goal of 2)
$3,000 DONATION
helps reach over 5,000 college students needing help with addiction by sponsoring an addiction-themed talk given by Fr. Sean Kilcawley at the 2024 FOCUS SEEK Conference with a brief video beforehand
(goal of 1)
$4,000 DONATION
allows us to produce, edit, and share a new video course and module to be added to CIR+, our digital resource platform
(goal of 4)
$6,000 DONATION
allows CIR to host a 1-hour breakout session for priests, campus ministers, chaplains, and FOCUS missionaries at the 2024 FOCUS SEEK Conference with the aim of helping students overcome addiction and starting new CIR groups on college campuses
(goal of 1)
$7,500 DONATION
enhances training and formation resources for Catholic in Recovery meeting facilitators
(goal of 1)
$10,000 DONATION
allows us to adapt Catholic in Recovery resources in Spanish
(goal of 1)
$15,000 DONATION
gives us the runway to hire an Operations Officer to oversee sales, fulfillment, service requests, member relations, and general community support(goal of 1) met!
$20,000 DONATION
provides the capacity for us to host the first annual CIR convention in the fall of 2024 with the plan of drawing participants from around the world, Catholic partners working with addiction recovery, tracks for various addiction types, support for priests and clergy, access to relevant vendors, and a big party to celebrate God’s glory
(goal of 1)
$50,000 DONATION
will save hundreds of lives over time by making CIR+ resources available through a mobile app with help available at the click of a button
(goal of 1)
$1,000,000 DONATION
puts us in a position to partner with the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to build a Catholic addiction recovery treatment center rooted in the Twelve Steps and the sacraments
(goal of 1)
MONTHLY RECURRING GIFTS
MONTHLY RECURRING GIFTS
$25 / MONTH
contributes to hosting fees, recording software, and editing services to maintain and expand virtual meetings, webinars, and events
(4 of 20)
$50 / MONTH
supports our expanding network of leaders and volunteers around the world
(4 of 15)
$100 / MONTH
supports ongoing website development, technical support, and digital platform maintenance to provide addiction-specific Catholic resources
(1 of 10)
$250 / MONTH
supports research and development of new CIR resources with plans to launch the following in coming years: a CIR Bible, annual and seasonal daily reflection books, monthly devotionals, a thorough exploration of Saints related to addiction recovery, and much more
(goal of 6)
$500 / MONTH
covers monthly graphic design expenses for bringing awareness to new and existing Catholic in Recovery meetings and resources
(goal of 4)
$1,000 / MONTH
supports the cost of leasing space for Catholic in Recovery’s headquarters in San Diego where CIR meetings are held, inventory and fulfillment is maintained, and local trainings/gatherings take place
(goal of 2)
Your tax-exempt donations can be made and maintained through our online donor portal by clicking one of the above links or by mailing a check to:
Catholic in Recovery
9235 Activity Road, Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92126
Check back often to see updates on how our campaign is doing and please, if you feel called, share this message with a friend or family member who might feel called to help transform lives impacted by addiction. In addition, please keep our fellowship in your prayers. We recognize Catholic in Recovery as not just an organization but more of a community of men and women looking after each other and any newcomers looking for a Catholic spiritual solution to addiction. Praise God that He has made this all possible!
Thank you for giving consideration helping individuals and families impacted by addiction by financially supporting the mission of Catholic in Recovery.
God bless you abundantly,
Scott Weeman
Founder and Executive Director
Catholic in Recovery
Note: Catholic in Recovery is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded on the mission of serving individuals and families impacted by addiction through a blend of the Twelve Steps and sacraments of the Catholic Church.
Your tax-exempt donations can be made and maintained through our online donor portal by clicking one of the above links or by mailing a check to:
Catholic in Recovery
9235 Activity Road, Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92126
Check back often to see updates on how our campaign is doing and please, if you feel called, share this message with a friend or family member who might feel called to help transform lives impacted by addiction. In addition, please keep our fellowship in your prayers. We recognize Catholic in Recovery as not just an organization but more of a community of men and women looking after each other and any newcomers looking for a Catholic spiritual solution to addiction. Praise God that He has made this all possible!
Thank you for giving consideration helping individuals and families impacted by addiction by financially supporting the mission of Catholic in Recovery.
God bless you abundantly,
Scott Weeman
Founder and Executive Director
Catholic in Recovery
Note: Catholic in Recovery is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded on the mission of serving individuals and families impacted by addiction through a blend of the Twelve Steps and sacraments of the Catholic Church.
