{"id":94264,"date":"2015-10-20T00:02:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T07:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=94264"},"modified":"2015-09-19T19:12:42","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T02:12:42","slug":"a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

She writes:<\/p>\n

I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right?<\/p>\n

AA helped me become a better Catholic and is continuing to help me be a better tool for God. But I am resentful. I am resentful that I have to find that healing outside of the Church.<\/p>\n

Or that it\u2019s somehow not real because it\u2019s not a \u201cCatholic\u201d institution<\/p>\n

I feel like I have to split the two up. I\u2019m Catholic in church, and I\u2019m an alcoholic in AA. These are two of the most important things of my life and I want them to come together!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God can use anything. Why not AA? I would take it as the gift it is and combine the healing you are finding there with the sacraments of confession (when you realize places where you need to get rid of your sins) and Eucharist (when you have something to give thanks for as you journey toward healing). There\u2019s not a reason in the world God can\u2019t use AA to give you all sorts of graces. It\u2019s not in competition with the graces he gives you through the sacraments cuz there\u2019s only one God who is Lord of all of life.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s with you wherever you go, both in and out of Mass. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith (because it\u2019s Jesus), but <\/p>\n

\u201cChrist plays in ten thousand places
\nlovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not his
\nTo the Father through the features of men\u2019s faces\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t feel like everything has to happen at Mass and don\u2019t make the opposite mistake of thinking that if God blesses you outside Mass, then Mass doesn\u2019t matter. The sacraments are the beating heart of reality because they are our sure encounters with Christ. But though he is *surely* there, he is not *only* there. Creation is his playground and he will pop out at you from all sorts of unexpected nooks and crannies to surprise and bless you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped me become a better Catholic and is continuing to help me be a better tool for God. But I am resentful. I am resentful that I have to find that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-94264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mailbag"],"yoast_head":"\nA Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-20T07:02:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-20T02:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html\",\"name\":\"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-20T07:02:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-20T02:12:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith","description":"She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith","og_description":"She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2015-10-20T07:02:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-09-20T02:12:42+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html","name":"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-20T07:02:04+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-20T02:12:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"She writes: I am deeply disturbed that I have found more hope and healing through Alcoholics Anonymous than through Catholicism. Is that right? AA helped","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-struggles-to-reconcile-alcoholic-anonymous-with-her-catholic-faith.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Reader Struggles to Reconcile Alcoholics Anonymous with Her Catholic Faith"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}