Last night I attended my first
Calix meeting, though I am not a recovering alcoholic, I am a happy fellow traveller. I am so pleased to be involved in setting up a Brighton or Sussex group.
The Calix Society is an association of Catholic alcoholics who are maintaining their sobriety through affiliation with and participation in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our first concern is to interest Catholics with an alcoholic problem in the virtue of total abstinence. Our second stated purpose is to promote the spiritual development of our membership. Our gathering today is an effort in this direction. Our conversation and our association together should be a source of inspiration and encouragement to each other, geared to our growth toward spiritual maturity. Our participation in all other spiritual activities of Calix, such as the frequent celebration of the Liturgy, reception of the Sacraments, personal prayer and meditation, Holy Hours, Days of Recollection and retreats, aid us in our third objective, namely, to strive for the sanctification of the whole personality of each member. We welcome other alcoholics, not members of our faith, or any others, non-alcoholics, who are concerned with the illness of alcoholism and wish to join with us in prayer for our stated purposes.
I was pleased a couple of our Polish parishioners came along, next time I hope we will have more people turning up at our next meeting next month.
There is always something impressive about Catholics who have overcome addiction, they have experienced God's mercy, they are able to speak about and celebrate it. There is something about listening to someone who has been battered and bruised, who is scarred by life talking about his or her experiences. These are people who know first hand about being lost and being found, they know about conversion, and the love and power of God.
Pray for the success of our Brighton group, if you want more information contact Sue at calixsussex@btinternet.com
Tonight we are setting up a men's group too, so pray for that as well.
2 comments:
This is wonderful news. I am a recovered alcoholic and used to be heavily involved in AA. I would love to experience Calix, but their meetings seem to be few and far between.
Men's groups are a very good thing too. Your parish seems to be such a hive of sound activity that I wish I could move to Brighton and worship there.
Blessings on your labours!
May God bless Calix and all connected with it. Some readers may be interested in this: http://www.pioneerassociation.ie/
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