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The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J. and Bill Wilson in Letters
The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling.
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 in recoverydependency issueswhether or not to experiment with LSDthe place of money and power in AAknowing God's plan and willlearning from mistakesFather 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 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?What Bill learned from Father Ed can be found in books and articles he wrote for AA. 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 calling on each to know who he is -- before God.
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 in recoverydependency issueswhether or not to experiment with LSDthe place of money and power in AAknowing God's plan and willlearning from mistakesFather 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 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?What Bill learned from Father Ed can be found in books and articles he wrote for AA. 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 calling on each to know who he is -- before God.
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 21, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 5, 2013
I loved the book. I have a catholic friend who is struggling to embrace AA because he thinks it might jeopardize his religious faith. This book helped me to see where much of what happens in AA is a direct result of Bill working with Father Ed.
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April 27, 2026R E V I E W
An interesting and sometimes insight look into the relationship of these two men and the effect it had on the development and evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous. The details about how the relationship affected Bill Wilson's recovery and the development of his ideas was lacking for me, but the author is a Jesuit, not an AA, archivist. I find myself wanting to see a copy of the drafts of Wilson's essays on the Steps and the Traditions that he sent for Dowling's review and the specific suggestions that Dowling made.
N O T E S
The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling. How Father Ed, an Irish Catholic Jesuit priest who was not an alcoholic was able to be of such great help to Bill Wilson.
FOREWORD - Ernest Kurtz. The real bond between Wilson and Dowling was suffering. "… a spirituality for maturing people."
PREFACE - Robert Fitzgerald. Basis: 195 letters between Dowling and Wilson.
CHAPTER 1 "Father Ed Meets Bill W."
November, 1940, Wilson's living quarters above the 24th Street AA Clubhouse. Dowling: "A Jesuit friend and I have been struck by the similarity of the AA Twelve Steps and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius." Wilson: "Never heard of them." The bond was struck. Wilson's Fifth Step. A struggling Wilson asking is there never going to be any satisfaction and Dowling responding, "Never. Never any."
CHAPTER 2 "Bill's Story."
Bill and Ebby. Bill and Ed shared interest in baseball and democracy. Bill's suffering: deserted by his father, divorce, mother leaves him to be raised by his grandparents, death of first love, Bertha, early career struggles, childlessness, stock market crash, alcoholism. Bill, Dr. Silkworth, and Dr. Bob.
CHAPTER 3 "Father Ed's Story."
Thoroughly Irish Catholic. Crisis of faith as second year novitiate. "God ceased to let him be comfortable." Smoker, overeater. Sense of humor. Lifelong search for structure to help people, thus, AA attraction. Cana, Recovery Inc, … "a Jesuit committed to obedience and authority, but the same time, a passionate lover of democracy and grassroots power of people with the same wounds to heal each other."
CHAPTER 4 "The Story in Letters 1941-1944."
The two men didn't formally meet again until Jan. 1942. The issue of these letters: discernment. Dowling - become a trustee of the Alcoholic Foundation. Bill - join the Army for WWII, voices from the other side. Dowling - AA trustee? Bill's underlying question: "how to choose the next life-giving step in recovery?" Dowling's response pattern: listening, discerning, choosing, detachment. Dowling caught the "AA virus," working the Steps - "no longer a spectator but practitioner and defender of AA" - attending meetings as a special friend or "fellow traveler, a common practice in the early days of AA."
CHAPTER 5 "In Touch on the Run."
Fr. Ed - Summer School of Catholic Action tour - Minneapolis, New York, Washington, DC. Other Queen Studies responsibilities and travel. Bill - Train tour of major AA cities. Dowling serving as liaison between Catholic Church and AA.
*** CRITICAL QUOTE *** Bill: "It must never be forgotten that the purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous is to sober up alcoholics. There is no religious or spiritual requirement for membership. No demands are made on anyone. An experience is offered which members may accept or reject. That is up to them."
CHAPTER 6 "The Purple Haze: Depression."
With the onset of his depression in the late 1940s, Bill carried over his recovery pattern of sharing with others who were also suffering. In letters, he describes how difficult it was for him to write the Twelve and Twelve or even take a walk. It lasted about ten years and he was constantly trying to figure out how to apply the Twelve Steps to it. Fr. Ed, also suffering from arthritis and food gluttony, characterized it as "Glad Gethsemane," where he could bring his suffering to the Cross.
***FR. ED ON STEPS SIX AND SEVEN*** "I think the sixth step is the one which separates the men from the boys in A.A… it says not almost, but entirely ready." "The seventh step implements that desire by humbly asking God to remove these defects… as one grows in A.A., the problems seem to be bigger, the strength bigger, and the dividends greater." (pp 37-8)
***ED TO BILL ON HIS DEPRESSION STRUGGLES*** Bill was going through "continuing detachment, pain/growth followed by, on a deeper level, more pain/growth... progress in the spiritual life was 'not through achievement but detachment.'"
Bill tried "everything vitamin B3, walking and breathing, meditation, the Twelve Steps." He came to see his suffering as beneficial, as a "necessary part of development." (1960). ED'S CONTRIBUTION. An outcome: his 1958 essay on "Emotional Sobriety with the core issue being his dependence on people or circumstances…" In 1953, he wrote that he had begun to get better when he began to pray for "release from absolute dependence upon people and situations for emotional security." He also realized that he didn't have to be dependent as a condition for happiness.
CHAPTER 7 "Boundaries: Mr. AA and Bill Wilson."
July 1946. Bill to Ed: Thanks for suggestions on 12&12. Also asked Ed's opinion on plans for service structure to move power from co-founders and trustees to the body of AA. MORE EVIDENCE OF DOWLING'S IMPORTANCE TO BILL'S THINKING AND PLANNING.
***1947*** Bill sees psychiatrist, Frances Week's. Her advice: "It is highly satisfactory to live one's life for others, it cannot be anything but disastrous to live one's life for others as those others think it should be lived… so we have the person of Mr. Anonymous in conflict with Bill Wilson."
CHAPTER 8 "Bill and the Catholic Church."
Bill's friendship and admiration of Dowling led him to take a serious look at the Catholic Church. The doctrine of papal infallibility was a stumbling block. Dowling did not try to convert him but ried to focus Bill on the bigger picture: "surrender to the action of God's grace, intervening in you, now."
Bill could not believe in "anything that was beyond human experience." Dowling's response: for Bill to be faithful to God calling him to the Twelve Steps, something bigger than organized religion. Ed's wrestling analogy: "The whole mat was graced -- not just the Catholic section… Bill was off the Catholic hook yet on the God hook where God called him and AA…"
CHAPTER 9 "The Spiritual Exercises and the Traditions."
Bill asked Dowling for a copy of The Spiritual Exercises as a help on the Twelve and Twelve. In 1952, he sent Dowling a draft copy of the essays on the Steps, describing his hope that they might "act as bait for reading [the essays on the Traditions.] He solicited Dowling's input, who repeatedly urged Bill to trust both himself and AA into God's care. Dowling introduced him an outline of similarities between the Exercises and the Traditions which had been developed by John Markoe, a Jesuit alcoholic.
*** CRITICAL QUOTE *** Bill to Ed, his hope for the 12&12 was to "broaden and deepen" the Steps - "both for the newcomers and old timers… how to widen the opening [for atheists, agnostics, and others] so it seems right and reasonable to enter there..." (p.58).
Dowling was the first to point to the "horizontal dimension" of the Steps, their application of the Steps to other compulsions. This in contrast to their "vertical dimension" applied to alcoholism. He observed that in the Exercises, "a person was to watch the beginning, middle, and end of a movement to discern whether it was from an evil or a good spirit." He offered this as an approach to evaluating the impact and importance of the Steps.
In another letter, Bill solicited Dowling's view on Bill's essays on Steps Six and Seven. A long letter Bill says that one of the challenges is to "persuade folks to make the absolute their objective without losing sight of the fact that most of us will always have to move in the relative." PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION. The "men" is one "who is perfectly and continuously willing..."
CHAPTER 10 "A Christmas Gift: The Prayer of St. Francis."
Bill had a difficult time writing the Eleventh Step commentary in the 12&12 because he was suffering from depression. Fr. Ed thought it should be meditated more than read. Fr. Ed gave a talk in 1953 at the Summer School of Catholic Action comparing the Twelve Steps to the Spiritual Exercises. "Christ and His Passion came in encouragingly in the Third and Eleventh Steps."
Ed used the Twelve Steps as a basis for Recovery, Inc., Divorcees Anonymous, and Cana. In small groups, the sharing was capped with the question: "What would AA contribute to this situation?'
CHAPTER 11 "Is This God Speaking?"
"Without ever knowing the word, many in AA practice discernment." "In classical spirituality, discernment means identifying what spirit is at work in a situation… [it] is 'sifting through' our interior and exterior experiences to determine their origin." MEDITATION ON THE TWO STANDARDS.
"THE STEPS OF AA PRESUPPOSE A GOD WHOSE PLANS CAN BE KNOW." [MY CAPS.] Steps 3 and 11. The big question: how do we know it? The 12&12's Step Ten inventories look for self-centeredness. This is similar to the Spiritual Exercises' "Consciousness Examen." Bill also concluded that God's will could be revealed in the Group. (Second Tradition). It is illustrated by his experience with the job offer from Town's Hospital.
CHAPTER 12 “20th Anniversary Celebration: God’s Steps to Humanity” (Based on thirty letters in the aftermath of the 1955 Convention.)
Bill: he saw the presentation given by Lois as a breakthrough for the total movement. She had emphasized that the spouse of the alcoholic needs to work the same steps not the alcoholic work is or her on steps. He also observed that the establishment of the General Service Conference had many of the same properties as the AA book and the old Foundation: They had to be put into effect before the average AA realized the need for them.
Bill‘s placement of anonymity as the opposite of the drive for power is exactly within the framework in the Meditation on the Two Standards (the way of humility versus the way of pride.) Bill referred to societies approach that give us the material things and then we shall take care of the spiritual as an appalling dry end. He said society seemed to be staggering down a dead end road. The stop sign is clearly marked. It says disaster. Bill saw the cure in self sacrifice.
Father Ed's talk was explicitly a Roman Catholic version of the 12 Steps. He also offered a treatise on God’s Twelve Steps toward humanity. (page 87), a Roman Catholic homily. Step One is the incar-nation. The 12th step is the sacrament of communion.
CHAPTER 13 "A Softer, Easier Way: the LSD Experiment."
Fr. Ed gently calls Bill to discernment about his LSD experiments. Bill claimed these were ways to lower defenses so that God might be experienced more quickly. It was always looking for other ways to reach the still suffering alcoholic. Bill’s experience was one of finding God in deflation through suffering and he wondered how this process might be speeded up by a chemical lowering of defenses. “Anything that helps alcoholics is good and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.” But in the end, Bill concluded did LSD was only a temporary ego reducer. QUICK FIX! What Bill sought was a way to "get the ego down so it will stay that way.” In a 1959 letter to Father Ed, Bill said the LSD business had created some commotion and that "no amount of factual information can dispel the doubts." He said he had not the slightest disposition to rush back into more LSD and he didn’t wanna push on anyone else.
Bill share his confusion on religious or moral matters. He noted that many people of goodwill hold different religious views. And he asked how can I know what is the right thing to do? Ed’s response: follow your own truth. Bill said he could not become a Catholic because it might be seen as an endorsement of Catholicism. He sometimes referred to his relationship with the Catholic Church as a fellow traveler.
Bill to Ed on AA's disagreements. at the 1958 GSC, where he talked about three or four good fights. This was the conference where he raised the issue of the AA/non-AA board composition, proposing that it was time to switch the majority on the board in favor of alcoholics. This “evoked a storm of protest and fear.” But “compared with the fisticuffs we used to have when all of the Midwest was against New York and me, it was a mild affair…” Bill took this at evidence that the Conference can stand any amount of nonsense and that 1958 was a grand test.
CHAPTER 14 "Dowling's Last Night with Cana and AA."
Ed was scheduled to speak at the 1960 International Convention in Long Beach in July. He died on April 3 in Memphis while attending a Cana convention. There was an argument among the Jesuits about where the funeral should take place. Some thought some Fr. Ed’s ministry was on the fringe and felt he should not receive full honors. This was something he had lived with his entire professional life.
CONCLUSION "A Ballpark Named Recovery."
“That divine commission, suffering — arthritis and over eating for Father Ed, alcoholism and depression for Bill – became tickets into a special ballpark: recovery.”
*** CRITICAL QUOTE ***
"Bill knew Father Ed’s own vision of Steps Six and Seven as the way of the suffering Christ. Father Ed had claimed this understanding both in his 1955 Convention talk and in his suggestions for Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The paradox of suffering, death to life, that Father Ed saw in Steps Six and Seven had been the very paradox of 'suffering leading to regeneration' that led Fr. Ed to Bill that first November night in 1940."
"This paradox found visualization in the 'Meditation on the Two Standards, with one leader's call to riches and power versus humiliations, the other leader's call to humiliations as blessings."
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: Father Ed Grapevine article called "AA Steps for the Underprivileged Non-AA."
The steps can be applied for the non-alcoholic. Witness the expansion of the steps to all kinds of diseases. The psychiatrist and the medical doctor have understood the psychic and physical dimensions of disease. AA added a third, the spiritual or the religious dimension. AA focuses on the "depth" of the program: carrying the message to alcoholics. Ed surmised that if we spent more time on the "breath" of the spread of the Steps to other areas, we might be more successful in reaching AA‘s we were missing.
APPENDIX B: "How to Enjoy Being Miserable." A 1954 article in the magazine "Action Now" in 1954.
Two kinds of misery: self chosen and God chosen. Each can be either big or little. We can be crushed by them and end up living a life of self-pity, profanity, and resentment. Or accept them resignedly and your nerves will soon be frayed. The goal: enjoy them and experience, peace, and serenity. The process is one of transforming resignation into acceptance. We willingly pick up and enjoy suffering for someone we love. We cannot find the source of our resistance in our feelings but in our will, the essential determinant of virtue and joy.
APPENDIX C: "The Prayer of St. Francis."
APPENDIX D: "The Next Frontier -- Emotional Sobriety." (Wilson, AAGrapevine, Jan. 1958)
The next major development in AA may be the development of more real maturity and balance. In our spiritual adolescence, we crave for top approval, perfect security, and perfect romance. These become inappropriate as adults. Our challenge: transform a right mental conviction into a right emotional result.. This is the problem of life and is a fundamental issue for long-term sober alcoholics. The question: how to use the 12 steps to release these adolescent emotions..
Bill realized that the source of his depression his absolute dependence on people or circumstances to supply in with the prestige and security. When these dependencies are released we can be free to love as Francis did.
APPENDIX E: "Twelve Steps," Twelve Traditions'
APPENDIX F: Edward Dowling's Curriculum Vitae.
APPENDIX G: "Humility for Today." (Wilson, AAGrapevine, June 1961)
An allegory about traveling on the highway to humility. On one side is a shallow marsh where we can get bogged down in guilt and rebellion. On the other is the countryside with countless trails leading into possible gold fields. If we strike gold, we can think of this is our reward for the time we previously spent on the highway. But at some point, we notice the words on the tail side of our gold coins say things like "I am power" or "I am wealth." Still, we hold onto them. Many never return to the highway but remain captured by the gold of pride.
Humility for today upon being able to "avoid the bog of guilt and rebellion and that fair but deceiving land which is strewn with the coin of pride. This is how I can find and stay on the Road to Humility which lies in between. Therefore a constant inventory which can reveal when I am off the road is always in order.”
An interesting and sometimes insight look into the relationship of these two men and the effect it had on the development and evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous. The details about how the relationship affected Bill Wilson's recovery and the development of his ideas was lacking for me, but the author is a Jesuit, not an AA, archivist. I find myself wanting to see a copy of the drafts of Wilson's essays on the Steps and the Traditions that he sent for Dowling's review and the specific suggestions that Dowling made.
N O T E S
The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling. How Father Ed, an Irish Catholic Jesuit priest who was not an alcoholic was able to be of such great help to Bill Wilson.
FOREWORD - Ernest Kurtz. The real bond between Wilson and Dowling was suffering. "… a spirituality for maturing people."
PREFACE - Robert Fitzgerald. Basis: 195 letters between Dowling and Wilson.
CHAPTER 1 "Father Ed Meets Bill W."
November, 1940, Wilson's living quarters above the 24th Street AA Clubhouse. Dowling: "A Jesuit friend and I have been struck by the similarity of the AA Twelve Steps and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius." Wilson: "Never heard of them." The bond was struck. Wilson's Fifth Step. A struggling Wilson asking is there never going to be any satisfaction and Dowling responding, "Never. Never any."
CHAPTER 2 "Bill's Story."
Bill and Ebby. Bill and Ed shared interest in baseball and democracy. Bill's suffering: deserted by his father, divorce, mother leaves him to be raised by his grandparents, death of first love, Bertha, early career struggles, childlessness, stock market crash, alcoholism. Bill, Dr. Silkworth, and Dr. Bob.
CHAPTER 3 "Father Ed's Story."
Thoroughly Irish Catholic. Crisis of faith as second year novitiate. "God ceased to let him be comfortable." Smoker, overeater. Sense of humor. Lifelong search for structure to help people, thus, AA attraction. Cana, Recovery Inc, … "a Jesuit committed to obedience and authority, but the same time, a passionate lover of democracy and grassroots power of people with the same wounds to heal each other."
CHAPTER 4 "The Story in Letters 1941-1944."
The two men didn't formally meet again until Jan. 1942. The issue of these letters: discernment. Dowling - become a trustee of the Alcoholic Foundation. Bill - join the Army for WWII, voices from the other side. Dowling - AA trustee? Bill's underlying question: "how to choose the next life-giving step in recovery?" Dowling's response pattern: listening, discerning, choosing, detachment. Dowling caught the "AA virus," working the Steps - "no longer a spectator but practitioner and defender of AA" - attending meetings as a special friend or "fellow traveler, a common practice in the early days of AA."
CHAPTER 5 "In Touch on the Run."
Fr. Ed - Summer School of Catholic Action tour - Minneapolis, New York, Washington, DC. Other Queen Studies responsibilities and travel. Bill - Train tour of major AA cities. Dowling serving as liaison between Catholic Church and AA.
*** CRITICAL QUOTE *** Bill: "It must never be forgotten that the purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous is to sober up alcoholics. There is no religious or spiritual requirement for membership. No demands are made on anyone. An experience is offered which members may accept or reject. That is up to them."
CHAPTER 6 "The Purple Haze: Depression."
With the onset of his depression in the late 1940s, Bill carried over his recovery pattern of sharing with others who were also suffering. In letters, he describes how difficult it was for him to write the Twelve and Twelve or even take a walk. It lasted about ten years and he was constantly trying to figure out how to apply the Twelve Steps to it. Fr. Ed, also suffering from arthritis and food gluttony, characterized it as "Glad Gethsemane," where he could bring his suffering to the Cross.
***FR. ED ON STEPS SIX AND SEVEN*** "I think the sixth step is the one which separates the men from the boys in A.A… it says not almost, but entirely ready." "The seventh step implements that desire by humbly asking God to remove these defects… as one grows in A.A., the problems seem to be bigger, the strength bigger, and the dividends greater." (pp 37-8)
***ED TO BILL ON HIS DEPRESSION STRUGGLES*** Bill was going through "continuing detachment, pain/growth followed by, on a deeper level, more pain/growth... progress in the spiritual life was 'not through achievement but detachment.'"
Bill tried "everything vitamin B3, walking and breathing, meditation, the Twelve Steps." He came to see his suffering as beneficial, as a "necessary part of development." (1960). ED'S CONTRIBUTION. An outcome: his 1958 essay on "Emotional Sobriety with the core issue being his dependence on people or circumstances…" In 1953, he wrote that he had begun to get better when he began to pray for "release from absolute dependence upon people and situations for emotional security." He also realized that he didn't have to be dependent as a condition for happiness.
CHAPTER 7 "Boundaries: Mr. AA and Bill Wilson."
July 1946. Bill to Ed: Thanks for suggestions on 12&12. Also asked Ed's opinion on plans for service structure to move power from co-founders and trustees to the body of AA. MORE EVIDENCE OF DOWLING'S IMPORTANCE TO BILL'S THINKING AND PLANNING.
***1947*** Bill sees psychiatrist, Frances Week's. Her advice: "It is highly satisfactory to live one's life for others, it cannot be anything but disastrous to live one's life for others as those others think it should be lived… so we have the person of Mr. Anonymous in conflict with Bill Wilson."
CHAPTER 8 "Bill and the Catholic Church."
Bill's friendship and admiration of Dowling led him to take a serious look at the Catholic Church. The doctrine of papal infallibility was a stumbling block. Dowling did not try to convert him but ried to focus Bill on the bigger picture: "surrender to the action of God's grace, intervening in you, now."
Bill could not believe in "anything that was beyond human experience." Dowling's response: for Bill to be faithful to God calling him to the Twelve Steps, something bigger than organized religion. Ed's wrestling analogy: "The whole mat was graced -- not just the Catholic section… Bill was off the Catholic hook yet on the God hook where God called him and AA…"
CHAPTER 9 "The Spiritual Exercises and the Traditions."
Bill asked Dowling for a copy of The Spiritual Exercises as a help on the Twelve and Twelve. In 1952, he sent Dowling a draft copy of the essays on the Steps, describing his hope that they might "act as bait for reading [the essays on the Traditions.] He solicited Dowling's input, who repeatedly urged Bill to trust both himself and AA into God's care. Dowling introduced him an outline of similarities between the Exercises and the Traditions which had been developed by John Markoe, a Jesuit alcoholic.
*** CRITICAL QUOTE *** Bill to Ed, his hope for the 12&12 was to "broaden and deepen" the Steps - "both for the newcomers and old timers… how to widen the opening [for atheists, agnostics, and others] so it seems right and reasonable to enter there..." (p.58).
Dowling was the first to point to the "horizontal dimension" of the Steps, their application of the Steps to other compulsions. This in contrast to their "vertical dimension" applied to alcoholism. He observed that in the Exercises, "a person was to watch the beginning, middle, and end of a movement to discern whether it was from an evil or a good spirit." He offered this as an approach to evaluating the impact and importance of the Steps.
In another letter, Bill solicited Dowling's view on Bill's essays on Steps Six and Seven. A long letter Bill says that one of the challenges is to "persuade folks to make the absolute their objective without losing sight of the fact that most of us will always have to move in the relative." PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION. The "men" is one "who is perfectly and continuously willing..."
CHAPTER 10 "A Christmas Gift: The Prayer of St. Francis."
Bill had a difficult time writing the Eleventh Step commentary in the 12&12 because he was suffering from depression. Fr. Ed thought it should be meditated more than read. Fr. Ed gave a talk in 1953 at the Summer School of Catholic Action comparing the Twelve Steps to the Spiritual Exercises. "Christ and His Passion came in encouragingly in the Third and Eleventh Steps."
Ed used the Twelve Steps as a basis for Recovery, Inc., Divorcees Anonymous, and Cana. In small groups, the sharing was capped with the question: "What would AA contribute to this situation?'
CHAPTER 11 "Is This God Speaking?"
"Without ever knowing the word, many in AA practice discernment." "In classical spirituality, discernment means identifying what spirit is at work in a situation… [it] is 'sifting through' our interior and exterior experiences to determine their origin." MEDITATION ON THE TWO STANDARDS.
"THE STEPS OF AA PRESUPPOSE A GOD WHOSE PLANS CAN BE KNOW." [MY CAPS.] Steps 3 and 11. The big question: how do we know it? The 12&12's Step Ten inventories look for self-centeredness. This is similar to the Spiritual Exercises' "Consciousness Examen." Bill also concluded that God's will could be revealed in the Group. (Second Tradition). It is illustrated by his experience with the job offer from Town's Hospital.
CHAPTER 12 “20th Anniversary Celebration: God’s Steps to Humanity” (Based on thirty letters in the aftermath of the 1955 Convention.)
Bill: he saw the presentation given by Lois as a breakthrough for the total movement. She had emphasized that the spouse of the alcoholic needs to work the same steps not the alcoholic work is or her on steps. He also observed that the establishment of the General Service Conference had many of the same properties as the AA book and the old Foundation: They had to be put into effect before the average AA realized the need for them.
Bill‘s placement of anonymity as the opposite of the drive for power is exactly within the framework in the Meditation on the Two Standards (the way of humility versus the way of pride.) Bill referred to societies approach that give us the material things and then we shall take care of the spiritual as an appalling dry end. He said society seemed to be staggering down a dead end road. The stop sign is clearly marked. It says disaster. Bill saw the cure in self sacrifice.
Father Ed's talk was explicitly a Roman Catholic version of the 12 Steps. He also offered a treatise on God’s Twelve Steps toward humanity. (page 87), a Roman Catholic homily. Step One is the incar-nation. The 12th step is the sacrament of communion.
CHAPTER 13 "A Softer, Easier Way: the LSD Experiment."
Fr. Ed gently calls Bill to discernment about his LSD experiments. Bill claimed these were ways to lower defenses so that God might be experienced more quickly. It was always looking for other ways to reach the still suffering alcoholic. Bill’s experience was one of finding God in deflation through suffering and he wondered how this process might be speeded up by a chemical lowering of defenses. “Anything that helps alcoholics is good and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.” But in the end, Bill concluded did LSD was only a temporary ego reducer. QUICK FIX! What Bill sought was a way to "get the ego down so it will stay that way.” In a 1959 letter to Father Ed, Bill said the LSD business had created some commotion and that "no amount of factual information can dispel the doubts." He said he had not the slightest disposition to rush back into more LSD and he didn’t wanna push on anyone else.
Bill share his confusion on religious or moral matters. He noted that many people of goodwill hold different religious views. And he asked how can I know what is the right thing to do? Ed’s response: follow your own truth. Bill said he could not become a Catholic because it might be seen as an endorsement of Catholicism. He sometimes referred to his relationship with the Catholic Church as a fellow traveler.
Bill to Ed on AA's disagreements. at the 1958 GSC, where he talked about three or four good fights. This was the conference where he raised the issue of the AA/non-AA board composition, proposing that it was time to switch the majority on the board in favor of alcoholics. This “evoked a storm of protest and fear.” But “compared with the fisticuffs we used to have when all of the Midwest was against New York and me, it was a mild affair…” Bill took this at evidence that the Conference can stand any amount of nonsense and that 1958 was a grand test.
CHAPTER 14 "Dowling's Last Night with Cana and AA."
Ed was scheduled to speak at the 1960 International Convention in Long Beach in July. He died on April 3 in Memphis while attending a Cana convention. There was an argument among the Jesuits about where the funeral should take place. Some thought some Fr. Ed’s ministry was on the fringe and felt he should not receive full honors. This was something he had lived with his entire professional life.
CONCLUSION "A Ballpark Named Recovery."
“That divine commission, suffering — arthritis and over eating for Father Ed, alcoholism and depression for Bill – became tickets into a special ballpark: recovery.”
*** CRITICAL QUOTE ***
"Bill knew Father Ed’s own vision of Steps Six and Seven as the way of the suffering Christ. Father Ed had claimed this understanding both in his 1955 Convention talk and in his suggestions for Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The paradox of suffering, death to life, that Father Ed saw in Steps Six and Seven had been the very paradox of 'suffering leading to regeneration' that led Fr. Ed to Bill that first November night in 1940."
"This paradox found visualization in the 'Meditation on the Two Standards, with one leader's call to riches and power versus humiliations, the other leader's call to humiliations as blessings."
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: Father Ed Grapevine article called "AA Steps for the Underprivileged Non-AA."
The steps can be applied for the non-alcoholic. Witness the expansion of the steps to all kinds of diseases. The psychiatrist and the medical doctor have understood the psychic and physical dimensions of disease. AA added a third, the spiritual or the religious dimension. AA focuses on the "depth" of the program: carrying the message to alcoholics. Ed surmised that if we spent more time on the "breath" of the spread of the Steps to other areas, we might be more successful in reaching AA‘s we were missing.
APPENDIX B: "How to Enjoy Being Miserable." A 1954 article in the magazine "Action Now" in 1954.
Two kinds of misery: self chosen and God chosen. Each can be either big or little. We can be crushed by them and end up living a life of self-pity, profanity, and resentment. Or accept them resignedly and your nerves will soon be frayed. The goal: enjoy them and experience, peace, and serenity. The process is one of transforming resignation into acceptance. We willingly pick up and enjoy suffering for someone we love. We cannot find the source of our resistance in our feelings but in our will, the essential determinant of virtue and joy.
APPENDIX C: "The Prayer of St. Francis."
APPENDIX D: "The Next Frontier -- Emotional Sobriety." (Wilson, AAGrapevine, Jan. 1958)
The next major development in AA may be the development of more real maturity and balance. In our spiritual adolescence, we crave for top approval, perfect security, and perfect romance. These become inappropriate as adults. Our challenge: transform a right mental conviction into a right emotional result.. This is the problem of life and is a fundamental issue for long-term sober alcoholics. The question: how to use the 12 steps to release these adolescent emotions..
Bill realized that the source of his depression his absolute dependence on people or circumstances to supply in with the prestige and security. When these dependencies are released we can be free to love as Francis did.
APPENDIX E: "Twelve Steps," Twelve Traditions'
APPENDIX F: Edward Dowling's Curriculum Vitae.
APPENDIX G: "Humility for Today." (Wilson, AAGrapevine, June 1961)
An allegory about traveling on the highway to humility. On one side is a shallow marsh where we can get bogged down in guilt and rebellion. On the other is the countryside with countless trails leading into possible gold fields. If we strike gold, we can think of this is our reward for the time we previously spent on the highway. But at some point, we notice the words on the tail side of our gold coins say things like "I am power" or "I am wealth." Still, we hold onto them. Many never return to the highway but remain captured by the gold of pride.
Humility for today upon being able to "avoid the bog of guilt and rebellion and that fair but deceiving land which is strewn with the coin of pride. This is how I can find and stay on the Road to Humility which lies in between. Therefore a constant inventory which can reveal when I am off the road is always in order.”
March 15, 2017
Interesting background and beginnings of AA. Easy read. It was a reading assignment, I wouldn't have read it otherwise. I am glad it was on my reading list.
March 7, 2023
Enjoyable book. Easy read. I got this from the library to try and pinpoint the exact relationship between the 12 steps and the spiritual exercises. There are general themes, but maybe need to read more carefully to pinpoint exact parallels. Prompted me to read Dawn Eden Goldstein's book on the subject. Father Ed: The Story of Bill W's Spiritual Sponsor Hardcover – November 10, 2022
by Dawn Goldstein (Author). That book is more up close and personal about his life and his own struggles, gift for helping people in trouble, and less specifically about Bill W. and AA. Both books are very good.
by Dawn Goldstein (Author). That book is more up close and personal about his life and his own struggles, gift for helping people in trouble, and less specifically about Bill W. and AA. Both books are very good.
October 15, 2017
I read this book with a book club. Each week we would read a chapter and then discuss it. The friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling and Bill Wilson is remarkable in the honesty and the non-judgmental support that they shared.
My favorite quote is when Fr. Ed was talking about the positive aspects he has experienced in recovery, saying, "I have seen dreams walk. I expect them to walk...Recovery has made my optimism greater, my hopelessness starts much later."
My favorite quote is when Fr. Ed was talking about the positive aspects he has experienced in recovery, saying, "I have seen dreams walk. I expect them to walk...Recovery has made my optimism greater, my hopelessness starts much later."
May 26, 2018
Deepening understanding of sponsorship
An interesting and accurate look into the relationship between Bill W and his spiritual advisor. AA casts a wide net and the message of humility and love is a “design for living” that can work for us all.
An interesting and accurate look into the relationship between Bill W and his spiritual advisor. AA casts a wide net and the message of humility and love is a “design for living” that can work for us all.
October 28, 2022
A little disjointed, and it assumes a great deal of familiarity with Catholic theology. Having said that, there were items in this book that I hadn't encountered. A frustrating read but not without its benefits.
October 1, 2023
Details a profound relationship and provides a trail of breadcrumbs in understanding the power of AA’s 12 Steps and their application in solving for any addiction, if practiced rigorously and honestly. Also details a beautiful friendship with so much accountability, shared wisdom, trust, and love.
November 3, 2025
amazing historical look at history of AA
Really wonderful story about relationship of Bill Wilson and father Ed. Don’t miss the appendices. Some really good information there as other resources now that your curiosity is tweaked!
Really wonderful story about relationship of Bill Wilson and father Ed. Don’t miss the appendices. Some really good information there as other resources now that your curiosity is tweaked!
November 4, 2025
Fitzgerald studied the correspondence between Bill Wilson and Fr. Ed Dowling and culled the material for their dialogue over spiritual matters. It is interesting to see two men from completely different backgrounds find common ground to help each other out.
May 7, 2008
Started March 9, 2005 Not the sort of book I'd have expected to read in a Spiritual Classic's class. It's the story of how a Jesuit priest, Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J., helped and taught Bill Wilson cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. The book is a record of their 20 year correspondence and friendship.
It's really a beautiful book. Simple. Moving. Very touching. It addresses our most basic needs--for God and each other. I cannot recommend it too highly!
It's really a beautiful book. Simple. Moving. Very touching. It addresses our most basic needs--for God and each other. I cannot recommend it too highly!
March 25, 2018
Read with my group; interesting interplay between ED and Bill.
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