Fr. Bill was for many years the President and CEO of Austin Recovery, a very large treatment facility in Austin, Texas. He then retired and became a chaplain there. Never tiring of recovery outreach, he recently became Chairman of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas Recovery Committee.
We count him as a good friend and were pleased and surprised to see that he recently wrote the article below about Christmas, giving, and our work. Here it is:
Recovery Today / December 2011
Dick
B. / A
Christmas Gift that Keeps on Giving
by
Father Bill W.
Nobody knows the real date of Jesus’ birth. It could have
been in the spring when the flowers first bloom; or in the fall, when it’s harvest time and everything’s ripe and
bountiful. The truth is nobody knows.
But,
long about the fifth century, the Church decided it needed to agree on a date,
so they sat down and chose what might seem like a very odd choice for the
Savior’s birth. They chose the day of the year when (at least in the northern
hemisphere) the earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the sun so the world turns
coldest and daylight hours are at their shortest. Maybe they had in mind the
words from Isaiah the prophet: “Those who
dwelt in a land of deep darkness, … on them a Light has shined.”
As alcoholics and addicts, I think we can probably all
relate to living “in a land of deep
darkness.” Nearly forty years ago, just after Christmas Day, my own
darkness brought me crawling through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. I found
a home there and enjoyed 20 years of uninterrupted sobriety before the darkness
began descending on me once again. This time I was sober, but I still hadn’t
found that needed “conscious contact” or “spiritual awakening” – at least, I
hadn’t found it in a form deep enough to carry me through another twenty
years. Another trip through the 12 Steps
or another round of ninety meetings in
ninety days simply wasn’t going to cut it for this addict. I needed a
personal relationship with a God who could light my way home.
One of the men who helped me find that Light is a man named
Dick B. I first met Dick at Bill Wilson’s own birthplace in East Dorsett,
Vermont. It wasn’t exactly like going to Bethlehem and running into one of the
wise men, but it came fairly close! Dick was presenting some of his earliest
research. The gift he gave to me proved more valuable than frankincense and
myrrh. It led me into a new and more personal relationship with God because, at
that time, I was badly in need of some spiritual grounding and enlightenment.
Dick’s words struck the right chord. His research brought the Steps and the
Program into that new Light for which I was searching. He did it, not by
preaching but by presenting solid history and scholarship on the origins of our
Program. God had prepared him well for the work assigned.
Dick came to recovery in as bad a shape as any and worse
than most. He suffered three grand mal seizures during his first week off the
booze. Once a hotshot lawyer with a degree from Stanford, Dick landed in the
psych ward of a VA Hospital in San Francisco where he remained for 2 months.
But there, in the depth of his own personal darkness, he found God and began a
recovery that now numbers over 25 years. Dick took full responsibility for his
past wrongs, pleaded guilty to three felony charges that were later turned to
misdemeanors. He went to prison for 30 days. But while he was there, he helped
guide as many fellow prisoners as he could and vowed to be of maximal service
when he was released.
Dick turned his talents learned as a research lawyer into
the service of God. He began studying the real heart of the 1939 program of
Alcoholics Anonymous. That original program had produced an astounding recovery
rate of 75% - far and above the diminishing results he was seeing in the A.A.
of his time. He read more than 500 books and pamphlets, interviewed dozens of
living members of the Oxford Group, and traveled to AA archives throughout the
country. He came away convinced that the original spiritual program of recovery
that was practiced especially in Akron, Ohio was being watered down to the
point where fewer and fewer alcoholics were being offered the in-depth
spiritual change sufficient to overcome addiction. Dick then set about publishing
his research (along with more than a few of his strongly held opinions) in a
parade of books that now numbers over 30. He’s also gotten with the times and
produces a blog along with scholarly articles that have grown into the
hundreds. Get yourself onto his massive e-mail list and you’ll never lack for
material to keep you growing along spiritual lines!
In the course of his work, Dick unearthed a number of
surprises as he dug ever deeper into AA’s early history.
·
He discovered the key role that Anne Smith, Dr.
Bob’s wife, had played in helping Bill and Bob, along with so many Akron
families, find their way into a personal relationship with God through Bible
study and the practice of Quiet Time. He published the first excerpts from
Anne’s personal journal that spanned the years 1933 through ’39. In it, she
covered a great many aspects of the First Century Christian Fellowship that she
credited with saving both her husband and her soul.
·
Additionally, Dick and his son Ken traced the
early and overlooked spiritual links both Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob shared
through their years of growing up in Vermont. His book The Conversion of Bill W helps readers gain a deeper insight into
Bill’s own darkness as well as the factors that contributed to his famous white
light experience in Towns’ Hospital. Readers will also learn about an event
that is far less well known - the altar call to which Bill responded at Calvary
Mission where he gave his life to Christ.
·
Most recently, Dick researched the 400 pages cut
from the original manuscript of the Big Book only to discover the many
Christian references that had been deleted.
Today, there are a growing number of splinter groups that
“take what they like from AA and leave the rest.” Running the gamut from Celebrate Recovery to
Atheists Anonymous, the 12 Steps in various forms are now being co-opted by our
secular and materialistic American culture. It’s to be expected and nobody, not
even Dick, is whining. It’s not unlike what occurred in the early church when
Christianity was uprooted and transplanted into the state religion. The
original message – not unlike the original manuscript – lost much in the
process.
Dick B. has made a tremendous contribution to all of us who
owe our lives to the 12–Steps and to our Fellowships. He’s painstakingly
documented the principles, players, and events that turned our once “hopeless condition of mind and body”
into what is now recognized by most experts in the field as an illness that is
mental and physical, but recognized by far too few that its successful
treatment is necessarily achieved only through working a strong spiritual
program, much as they did in early A.A. This Christmas do yourself a real
favor. Go to www.DickB.com and order a copy
of The Good Book and the Big Book or The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous. Either one will surely brighten your
Christmas and shine some of God’s light into your darkness.
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