Bill W. and the Jesuit

Today in 1960 marks the death of Edward Dowling, a Jesuit who played a largely unknown role in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. Born in St. Louis in 1898, he joined the U.S. Army during World War I. After the war, he played semi-pro baseball and worked as a reporter before joining the Jesuits. After his ordination, he joined the staff of the Jesuit magazine The Queen’s Work and taught in the Summer School for Catholic Action. Some of his students who joined AA invited him to a meeting, and he was impressed by what he saw. In 1940 he traveled to New York to meet Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, and a friendship developed between the two that lasted until Dowling’s death. Dowling used AA principles in his CANA Conferences for couples, while Bill W.’s subsequent writings were informed by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Dowling spent the last night of his life talking with AA couples as he prepared to give a CANA Conference in Memphis. Bill W. called him “the greatest and most gentle soul that I may ever know.”