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CASE STUDY
"Father Jack" • Alcoholism

We invite you to take a look at a situation which confronts those in Church Personnel Ministry. How would you deal with it?

Father Jack was a perfectionist. Those who knew him remember a man of great energy and organization. They find it hard to deal with what has been happening now. And things seem to be getting worse.

For the five years before being appointed pastor, Father Jack worked in six different parishes, but could not get along with the pastors. All were 'dictators who would not let him do anything'. Father Jack is now a pastor. One assistant after another leaves his parish with the same complaint: they simply cannot get along with him. His anger has been getting out of control more frequently, and he seems to spend more and more time alone. That perfectionism, which caused him to be a high achiever, has disappeared. He misses appointments, often starts Mass twenty minutes late, and sometimes does not appear at all.

He is 'under the weather', particularly in the morning. He has headaches, muscle aches, shakiness, and lacks energy. He seems very concerned with his breath, and uses mouthwash at odd times of the day.

Last fall a couple of classmates took him out for a cup of coffee to express their concern. He became very angry and got up and left the table. In January he exploded at the Priest's Senate meeting, told off the bishop and then didn't speak to anyone for the rest of the day.

Last week the sexton was carrying out the trash and saw an odd looking package in the dumpster. It was wrapped so neatly that it looked like mail that had been thrown away by mistake. He checked it and found sixteen empty bottles: eight whiskey, six vodka, and two wine. He mentioned this to Father Jack who flew into a rage, accused him of lying, and threatened to fire him. Then Father Jack go into his car and drove off....

Father Jack is in the progressive process of alcoholism, which is robbing him of his energy, his motivation, his spirit. It has also robbed him of his ability to understand himself and to observe his own behavior. Over time, untreated, it will rob him of his life.

Have you ever encountered this situation? What worked? What didn't?

Help for "Father Jack"
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul captures a destructive, compulsive experience which is well known to the alcoholic:

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate…. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it…. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do…. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:15-24)

The DSM-IV defines substance abuse as a "maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, manifested in failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home, and/or in situations in which it is physically hazardous, where it results in legal problems or in which it results in persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems."

With the exception of legal problems, our "Father Jack" was a perfect match. This makes him clinically diagnosable as an alcoholic. In practical terms that means that he has totally lost control of his life and his behavior. He has been overtaken by "this body of death".

When you are dealing with a "Father Jack" in your own diocese or community it is important to remember this image. Such people are no longer in control of their actions and given enough time they will be overtaken by death. Watching someone slowly die from alcohol induced liver failure, hypertension, or esophageal bleeding is not pretty. It is literally to see what it means to be overtaken by the body of death.

So, what to do? "Father Jack" cannot make this call. You must force him into treatment. A problem many superiors or friends have is that they remember how "Father Jack" used to be. They remember the rational and reasonable person who could act on his own behalf. You look at him and assume that he still is; he is not. He is in no position to know what is good for him and is not able to deal with his problem on his own.

In all likelihood he will fight you, curse you, refuse your orders, and try to find some way out. In the face of all of this you must remain resolute even though it is very difficult. This is not the old "Father Jack" that you are hearing. It is the voice of death coming from the body of a man who knows the right thing to do but has completely lost the ability to do it. He can learn to regain his ability to choose the right and to do it, but at this point he needs help - he needs your help. He needs what is called an intervention.

Remember two points:

• You do not have to do it alone. Someone in your diocese or community can help you set up an intervention.
• Your alcoholic needs treatment, and by intervening you are initiating a process which will probably result in incredible anger. But consider this fact about recovery: there is no difference in the recovery rate of a person who goes to treatment voluntarily and the person who is forced to go. Every treatment center tells the same story -that anger is great fuel for recovery.

If you have a "Father Jack" in your life, I feel for you. I have known many of them and felt the strain of dealing with them. I have also seen them come back to life, but never because they solved the problem themselves. Four friends of a crippled man sought to bring him to Jesus to the point that they climbed up on the roof and lowered him through it so he could get the help he needed. With your "Father Jack" you must do no less.

LUKENOTES is a bimonthly publication of Saint Luke Institute.
Permission to use these materials must be requested in writing by contacting
lukenotes@sli.org

SLI EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Saint Luke Institute
8901 New Hampshire Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20903
(301) 422-5499 • (301) 422-5519 (fax)

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