LET'S ENCOURAGE NEW BEGINNINGS
Recovering alcoholics deserve
our support and reassurance

By Ann Hauprich

In the eyes of the Rev. Peter Young, no one is so down and out that they don’t deserve another chance. For this reason, the founder and director of the Peter Young Housing, Industry and Treatment Program, which has helped thousands of recovering alcoholics in facilities stretching from Albany to NYC and from Altamont to Utica and beyond, is affectionately known as “Father To All.”

A centerpiece in the priest’s innovative humanitarian empire is The Schuyler Inn, which employs and houses more than 60 Capital Region clients and trains them for work in the food service and hospitality industries. Using the analogy of a three-legged stool (which cannot stand without all three supporting components) to describe his program’s approach, Young was both praised and criticized during 2005 for his efforts to introduce a halfway house into a local community.

Critics of his proposal reminded me of Biblical tales involving lepers who were kept hidden away behind city walls. The resulting isolation only served to increase the suffering of the lepers who were powerless to rid themselves of the dreaded skin disease -- much as those crippled by alcoholism are powerless to stop drinking until they admit they have a disease that, left unchecked, will eventually poison them to death learn. Only after admitting they have a disease that literally has the power to kill them and committing to following the Twelve Steps of AA do such individuals have hope of recovering and leading productive, rewarding lives.

This is important to society as a whole because while not physically contagious in the way that leprosy is, those afflicted with the disease of alcoholism often harm others via drunk driving accidents, domestic violence incidents and every imaginable heartache in between.

If reading about the incredible work of Father Peter Young over the past year wasn’t enough to convince skeptics of the merits of treatment and recovery programs, I hope sharing the story of lesser known Capital Region clergyman in another part of the world will open eyes and soften hearts when it comes to addressing controversial issues involving this topic in the future.

Many know Father William (Bill) Tracy as a missionary priest devoted to saving souls in South America. What they don’t know is that a key part of his mission involves saving other Roman Catholic clergy from the agonies of alcohol addiction. For two decades, the Ballston Spa native has worked as live-in director of New Life Community -- a halfway house for alcoholic priests, seminarians, nuns and other religious in Curitiba, Brazil. Modeled on "Guest House" near Detroit, Father Bill’s innovative program strives to lead participants to sobriety through daily therapy and prayer. It is truly a pioneer work, because prior to its inception, there had not been any adequate treatment program for ANY alcoholic in Brazil — much less for priests and nuns.

Above all else, Father Bill (who celebrated 50 years as a Redemptorist priest in 2005) yearns to help others understand the complexity of the problem of alcoholism. He says own story illustrates "how the Good Lord prepared me for this pioneer mission by allowing me to suffer for 20 years all the pain and despair of my own alcoholism."

If a businessman who is encouraged to "wine and dine clients has a hard time admitting he has a drinking problem, imagine the anguish of a respected priest who has become a slave to alcohol,” notes Father Bill. The feelings of shame and humiliation experienced by an alcoholic priest are so great that the initial reaction is to strongly deny that there is a problem. “To be an alcoholic priest is to go against everything a priest is supposed to be. It’s a heavy cross to carry, and the road to recovery is a long one,” he reflects.

Like every alcoholic, Father Bill made excuses and denied his alcohol addiction. Some good friends even agreed with him. “Sure, Bill ... you work so hard. You need a few drinks at night to relax. Just drink like I do -- one or two beers, and you’ll be all right.” What these good friends didn’t realize, stresses Father Bill, is that those who were born with a genetic predisposition to process alcohol in a different way from the rest of the population. “That’s why we built up an enslaving dependence on alcohol and couldn’t control our drinking. Now I tell people that, when it comes to alcohol, I am like a big truck with no brakes. If I started drinking again, I’d be like a truck without brakes -- no control over alcohol -- and disaster would be right around the bend.”

Father Bill’s treatment center shelters clergy at a halfway house in Brazil for at least three months. Little by little, those suffering from alcoholism slowly begin to lift up their heads, reaching out to other alcoholics before finally accepting that they have a disease. Once on the road to recovery, the priests and sisters carry the message of hope and recovery to hundreds of lay alcoholics in the local hospitals. “This getting out of themselves and interested in helping other alcoholics shows the priests how their vocation takes on a new dimension for being able to help alcoholics and their families. Each evening, residents of the halfway house take part in one of the 30 groups for recovering alcoholics in their Brazilian city because that is what works to keep them sober and to teach them how to live sober and happy,” says Father Bill, who began ministering to alcoholic clergy i 1981.

“Alcoholism is a terrible disease. But at The New Life Community, there is hope of escaping the hell of alcoholism and being able to see that the sun is shining for us, too. I am grateful that a friend of mine learned about alcoholism and loved me enough to come and talk me into going for treatment back in 1978. The greatest proof in my life that God really loves me is that just for today I am sober and free from the living death of active alcoholism. God loves me so much that today He transforms what had been for 20 years my greatest shame, into the most precious gift for helping other alcoholics.”

At this time of year, in particular, it’s hard not to ponder a pervasive irony in our culture. How is it that we are so quick to excuse the behavior of neighbors who drink to excess while toasting the arrival of a New Year while scoffing at the prospect of welcoming into our neighborhoods those who are committed to starting anew through addition recovery programs?It is time to lessen the stigma that is so often attached to those seeking to recover from this much misunderstood affliction.