Church’s Substance Addiction Ministry helps people find God

Deacon William Jones, who is a member of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, preaches the homily during an archdiocesan Substance Addiction Ministry healing Mass on Sept. 14 at Holy Cross Church in Indianapolis. He shared his story of recovery from alcohol addiction, and quoted St. Augustine, who wrote that, “Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. … No one knows himself except through trial or receives a crown except after victory.” (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Addictions distance people from a personal relationship with God, Father Lawrence Voelker explained after an archdiocesan Substance Addiction Ministry (SAM) healing Mass on Sept. 14 at Holy Cross Church in Indianapolis.

The pastor of Holy Cross Parish, who has been in recovery for 26 years after struggling with alcoholism earlier in his life, said people with addictions put them first before God in their life.

“The sickness is spiritual as well as physical,” Father Voelker said. “They lose touch with God. I think, on the other side, a lot of addicted people find God through recovery [in 12 Step programs] and then have trouble reconnecting with the Church.”

There is a critical need for substance abuse ministry in the archdiocese, he said, so the SAM program is now sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Family Ministries.

National statistics indicate that one in four people are either afflicted with or affected by the disease of addiction to alcohol and/or drugs.

Father Voelker is helping Deacon William Jones and his wife, May, who are members of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, with the Substance Addiction Ministry in the archdiocese.

“It is true that people do put the addiction before God in a lot of places,” Deacon Jones explained after the Mass, “but a lot of times it’s because they don’t know where to find God. … The Substance Addiction Ministry lets people find God back in the Catholic Church. A lot of Catholics have fallen away from the Church because they don’t feel that people are there to help them with their addiction.”

The Church’s ministry complements and supports recovery programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with Catholic spirituality, he said, but is not meant to replace these successful peer mentoring, self-help groups.

“You’ve got to take care of yourself, you have to heal yourself, before you can start making amends to other people,” Deacon Jones said. “I, and most of us, wouldn’t be here [at the Mass] without the 12 Step programs.”

With 24 other men, he was ordained a permanent deacon for the archdiocese by Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein on June 28 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. As a deacon, he may preach homilies.

Discussing his recovery from alcohol addiction in his homily on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Deacon Jones told the gathering of men and women—many there with family members—that the crucifix is “a sign of God’s unending and boundless love for all of us, … a sign of our salvation made possible. … God gave of himself in a completely unselfish love for us and our salvation. … Through the death of Christ on the cross, sinners are saved and God’s saving mercies are truly revealed.”

Christ’s suffering and death on the cross teaches us how to suffer, he explained. “God has never promised us that our lives would always be easy. We are challenged to carry many crosses in our lives. We face the death of loved ones and friends, sickness, family strife, loss of jobs and natural disasters. … There are many challenges in our daily lives and routines. What do we do with our sufferings, challenges or afflictions? How do we carry these crosses? Do we lift them up high to God?”

Deacon Jones said he “carried the cross of addiction to alcohol … that caused many darks days earlier in my life. I almost lost everything—my family, my faith, my friends and my life. But because of the prayers and the help of many people, the 12 Step program of AA and the grace of God, he blessed me with the virtue of sobriety. It was a long and difficult battle. I struggled with turning my life over completely to him.

“I fought with carrying this cross,” he admitted. “It was heavy and weighing me down. I struggled with lifting my cross high to him. I suffered pain and caused much pain. But once I learned that, with his help, I could carry this cross, it became much lighter. When I decided to turn it all over to him, the burden of the cross became a blessing to me. It has helped make me who I am today. It has helped me understand who he created me to be. It has given meaning and purpose to my life and my call to the diaconate.”

Christians are called to help one another carry the crosses that we encounter in daily life, Deacon Jones explained. “Our Church community grows stronger when we help one another with the burden of our crosses, and our personal relationship with God becomes closer and more meaningful. This is one of the reasons that I have helped to bring the Substance Addiction Ministry to our archdiocese. It is a ministry to offer hope, healing and reconciliation to all members of the Body of Christ. … So let us lift our crosses high. Let us look at the cross as a sign of hope, a sign of God’s love, mercy and redemptive power. It is a sign of victory.”

(For more information about the archdiocese’s Substance Addiction Ministry, log on to the archdiocesan Office of Family Ministries Web site at www.archindy.org/family/substance.html or call Deacon William Jones at St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus at 812-379-9353 or Father Larry Voelker at Holy Cross Parish in Indianapolis at 317-637-2620.) †