Alcoholism and Sin

[Nick_Palmer]

Hi, I’m new to Catholic Answers. I am a recovering alcoholic with just over a year’s sobriety. I am somewhat confused as to how the Church looks on alcoholism. AA tells me that it’s a disease, but that doesn’t fully satisfy my “Irish Catholic” sense of guild (although I’m only half Irish…). I now know people with decades of sobriety, and others who pop in and out of AA meetings with little sustained success.

I know that my free will comes into play somewhere here. I have a physical and mental “disorder” that drives me to drink, and “prevents” me from stopping once there are a few drinks in my system. Through prayer for God’s intervention, regular AA meetings, morning Mass, and the like I have been able to keep away from that one drink.

My parish priests seem a bit distant on the whole alcoholism/AA topic. I know from my CS Lewis readings that there is a difference between “bad digestion” leading to an unpleasant personality, and the sin of being a nasty person.

Does anyone have any guidance or ideas as to where the line lies between my illness and sinful choices?

 

[Trishie]

Nick, from what you said, that you’ve remained sober for a year, that whether or not in this present time alcoholism is sinful, isn’t relevant to you right now. Yes choice, free-will, does come into the equation, but you’re not choosing to succumb, and it is surely very difficult sometimes. If you do choose to drink, that would involve sin, not because illness is intrinsically sinful, but because the choice to drink for an alcoholic (or anyone who drinks to excess) is a choice to give away judgement and harm the gift of your life, and possibly the lives and welfare of others on many levels.

You may know of an Irish alcoholic who chose sobriety after 15 years of heavy drinking, and may wish to ask for his prayer perhaps:

Official Prayer for the Canonisation of Blessed Matthew Talbot

“Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbot you have given us a wonderful example of triumph over addiction, of devotion to duty, and of lifelong reverence of the Holy Sacrament. May his life of prayer and penance give us courage to take up our crosses and follow in the footsteps of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Father, if it be your will that your beloved servant should be glorified by your Church, make known by your heavenly favours the power he enjoys in your sight. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

I have autoimmune illnesses, including celiac disease. My poison is wheat, barley, oats, rye. I’d love some while crusty bread and croissants, but if I have them, I cause myself harm and long-term abuse can cause illness and death, and in fact I have added illnesses because it wasn’t diagnosed sooner. My illness isn’t a sin, but I am sinning against the double-barrel commandment to love others…as myself, if I don’t avoid those foods that are poison to me, as alcohol is to you.

 

[Trishie]

The causes of alcoholism may not be entirely clear, but they do point to pressures that do affect an alcoholic more than other people, and so at the least an emotional or mental illness of some kind exists.

The Causes of Alcoholism [edit]

Three factors have been identified that are said to lead to one’s alcoholism: predisposition, environmental, and psychosocial. Predisposition means having the tendency to veer towards something. Many researchers have pointed toward genetics as a reason on why some people become alcoholics. Studies have shown that teenagers and children who have parents or other family members who are alcoholics are more prone to having alcoholism than children who have sober relatives.

The influence of environmental factors are likewise very strong in the creation of an alcoholic. Having a negative environment with not enough love and nurturing may be things that can cause a person to turn to alcohol to relieve himself of emotional pain. Being surrounded by peers who are alcoholics can also push an individual to become an alcoholic.

Psychosocial factors influence how people look at themselves. For a child to have grown up in a non-supportive family wherein he is not allowed to express himself freely, where he is constantly scared and feels inadequate, is more prone to being in the clutches of alcoholism, as opposed to someone who grew up being well-loved by his parents and the people around him.

en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Alcoholism

 

[BernadetteM]

Unlike many I have had years of experience with alcoholics. My father was one, although my first husband drank and I thought he was an alcoholic, now I realize that he was bi-polar. My daughter is bi-polar and also drank for many years. She really never liked alcohol, but because of her mental illness used it to self medicate. Now I understand why her father also drank. It is a terrible disease and one who suffers from it tries to find anyway to alllievate the pain. There is pain in their brains, just as if someone suffers from cancer or other painful diseases.

As far as my father goes, I really feel from the scientific view point that alcoholism is a disease just as much as being bi-polar is. Your body chemistry doesn’t handle alcohol like a normal persons and if it is possible for a person who has this disease to abstain from alcohol their life will be better. But it only takes one drink to be right back where you started when you stopped drinking, even 20 years later. In fact, I have heard that the disease progresses all those years whether a person is drinking or not.

It is sad that so many feel they can judge another who has this disease and think that it just takes will power to stop. My father tried but to no avail and he did realize that he didn’t have control over his disease and died of it. Please feel free to PM me if you wish and I can share a story about my father.

God does play a big part in helping a person to keep sober, but as we all know that not everyone with cancer is healed and neither is everyone who is alcoholic able to control the disease. It is great that you have been sober for over a year, it is very possible that you can live each day and never take another drink with the grace of God. Please don’t feel guilt as you didn’t ask for this cross to bare anymore than others who also have their own crosses to carry through life.

May out Blessed Lord help you one day at a time and keep going to your support groups as they do understand as others don’t.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[Nick_Palmer]

Trishie and Bernadette, thank you so much for your thoughtful and helpful replies. My journey to AA has deepened and broadened my faith. I have a healthy fear of relapse, combined with a deep gratitude for the grace of God. Few things are now more painful than seeing someone in the AA program “go out.” A friend told me of an AA meeting room in Florida with an empty picture frame on the wall. When he asked for an explanation, he was told, “that’s for the first person who goes out and returns to tell us that life is better on the outside!”

Bernadette, how does one “PM” another member?

Finally, let me share a brief quote from a great book, “Father Fred and the Twelve Steps.” It perfectly encapsulates how I felt, and how I feel now:

“I know that by the grace of God I never
lost my religious faith, and I never lost my trust in the
mercy of God. But I lost my hope that God would give me any
more chances. I felt I had misused or failed to use so many
beautiful graces that he gave me, that I proved my
unfaithfulness to grace time after time, and I felt inwardly
convinced that I would never be set on my feet again in this
life – that I would never again be happy or experience
anything like joy. At the same time, I believed that in the
infinite mercy of my God he might save me at the last moment
from eternal loss.”

My favorite gospel was Luke’s account of Christ on Calvary with the two thieves.

God bless you, both!

 

[Seatuck]

12-step-review.org/index.html

Someone I know was able to get a little guidance and a Catholic leaning on the 12 steps from this group. You will find a lot of talk in “the rooms” that will sound good but would depart from Catholic teaching so you have to be careful.

Here’s another group.

calixsociety.org/

 

[doanli]

I just wanted to say “Congratulations!” on you sobriety. Keep up the great work!