“Father Ed”

Sometimes it seems that the world is speeding up… or maybe I’m just slowing down. At times my thought process can run from trying to digest the happenings of the current day with more news than any one person can even begin to digest; other times I’m reflecting back on my past which seems so distant. 

The other day a good friend of mine put me onto a book called “Fr. Ed”. It was about Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J. who was the spiritual sponsor of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA); he advised Bill in gaining spiritual footing for the 12 step process, seeing a real connection with the 12 Step to the Ignatian Exercises. It’s a very interesting book and describes the wit and wisdom and kindness of a very holy priest with a heart for the “down and out”. What especially caught my eye was that Fr. Ed was a close friend of my uncle – Joe Touhill. They were best buds and Joe even took Ed to the Jesuit Novitiate in St. Louis as he began his priestly journey. 

As I read through the book I was able to glean much of how life was in St. Louis in the first half of the 20^th century. Much of the stories centered around St. Louis University during those years… so many landmarks and even names mentioned were familiar to me. It’s pretty obvious that my father was also a good friend to Fr. Ed. 

More importantly than the great stories and names that were brought up, was the spirituality of Fr. Ed.  He had such a heart for those in need, for those who were excluded from society. He worked to bring the principles of AA to other non-alcoholic addictions and problems, to other groups that were excluded from “proper” society. He also developed the “Cana Conferences” for marriages. It’s  said that no one ever left his presence without feeling encouraged, without believing that they were helping him as much as he was helping them. “It was Fr. Ed’s gift to see heaven through the lives of people who were striving to overcome great suffering one step at a. time— and to help them see for themselves the divine grace he saw at work amidst their struggles.” (Fr. Ed, p. 222)

• Fr. Ed, not an alcoholic, described how he had successfully used the principles of A.A. to quit smoking after numerous unsuccessful attempts to break the habit: “Inspired by the humble example of A.A. novices he said, I can’t stop smoking for my entire life…. I can’t do it for one day; I can do it for maybe ten minutes.” Inspired by their humble example, I said to myself, I won’t try to quit smoking but I will, with God’s help, postpone the thought of smoking for three minutes.” That is a humiliating admission for a priest who tells others to do much harder things.” I learned to respect the little suffering of denying self the thought of a smoke and to pool that suffering with the sufferings of Christ…. with humiliation came humility , and with humility came God’s promised help.”  (ibid.,p. 229) 

Fr. Ed was a good athlete. He loved the Cardinals. He had a quick wit. But most of all he loved God and loved others. He was kind and would be there for those in need. He suffered much of his adult life with terrible arthritis that kept him in constant pain, yet he called his “ticket to heaven”. I even think Fr. Ed could have  written a pretty good BLOG. 

So it was a nice diversion to stumble on this book and to connect with some of my past. Fr. Ed passed in 1960. I do hope to one day make his acquaintance in the kingdom of heaven where we can talk a bit about the Cardinals and maybe even work on a “Heavenly BLOG”. Hey, you never know…. that would be really good news.