How did you meet Father
Ed Dowling?
Answer
My
first unforgettable contact with Father Ed came
about in this way. It was early 1940, though
late in the winter. Save for old Tom, the
fireman we had lately rescued from Rockland
Asylum, the club was empty (24th St. clubhouse
in N.Y. City where Bill and Lois were living, as
they had been evicted from their Clinton St.
home.) My wife Lois was out somewhere. It had
been a hectic day, full of disappointments. I
lay upstairs in our room, consumed with
self-pity. This had been brought on by one of my
characteristic imaginary ulcer attacks. It was a
bitter night, frightfully windy. Hail and sleet
beat on the tin roof over my head.
Then the front doorbell rang and
I heard old Tom toddle off to answer it. A
minute later he looked into the doorway of my
room, obviously much annoyed. Then he said,
"Bill, there is some old damn bum down there
from St. Louis, and he wants to see you." Great
heavens, I thought, this can't be still another
one." Wearily and even resentfully, I said to
Tom, "Oh well, bring him up, bring him up." Then
a strange figure appeared in my bedroom door. He
wore a shapeless black hat that somehow reminded
me of a cabbage leaf. His coat collar was drawn
around his neck, and he leaned heavily on a
cane. He was plastered with sleet. Thinking him
to be just another drunk, I didn't even get off
the bed. Then he unbuttoned his coat and I saw
that he was a clergyman.
A moment later I realized with
great joy that he was the clergyman who had put
that wonderful plug for A.A. into The Queen's
Work. My weariness and annoyance instantly
evaporated. We talked of many things, not always
about serious matters either. Then I began to be
aware of one of the most remarkable pair of eyes
I have ever seen. And, as we talked on, the room
increasingly filled with what seemed to me to be
the presence of God which flowed through my new
friend. It was one of the most extraordinary
experiences that I have ever had. Such was his
rare ability to transmit grace. Nor was my
experience at all unique. Hundreds of AA's have
reported having exactly this experience when in
his presence. This was the beginning of one of
the deepest and most inspiring friendships that
I shall ever know. This was the first meaningful
contact that I have ever had with the clergymen
of the Catholic faith. (The 'Blue Book', Vol.
12, 1960)
Another Answer
Father Edward Dowling, a
great Jesuit friend of ours, once said to me, "Bill, it isn't what you
people put into Alcoholics Anonymous that makes
it so good - it's what you left out."
(Transcribed from tape, Manhattan Group, 1955)
