Father Bill W.

Father Bill continues a deep dive exploring the place of religion within 12-Step recovery. Worldwide, and within 12-Step Fellowships, membership in religious bodies continues a steady decline, while the hunger for spiritual connection seems to grow steadily. This episode continues to ask what religions may have to contribute to our spiritual growth and why it’s often so difficult to join the world...

Father Bill shares an important writing by Rev. Sam Shoemaker. He is the Oxford Group leader Bill Wilson credits with teaching him no fewer than ten of the twelve Steps. Titled, “What the Church Has to Learn from Alcoholics Anonymous,” Fr. Bill reads the complete article. It’s also available in written form through the Step Study. Show Notes:  Link to Sam Shoemaker’s “What the Church Has to L...

Father Bill concludes his series of interviews with Stephen R. Haynes, professor of religious studies at Rhodes College and adjunct professor of recovery at Fuller Theological Seminary. Stephen’s new book Why Can’t the Church Be More Like an AA Meeting? explores the similarities and differences between communities of faith and communities of recovery. Stephen has traveled both worlds and shares in...

Father Bill continues a series of interviews with Stephen R. Haynes, professor of religious studies at Rhodes College and adjunct professor of recovery at Fuller Theological Seminary. Stephen’s new book Why Can’t the Church Be More Like an AA Meeting? explores the similarities and differences between communities of faith and communities of recovery. Stephen has traveled both worlds and shares insi...

Father Bill begins a series of interviews with Stephen R. Haynes, professor of religious studies at Rhodes College and adjunct professor of recovery at Fuller Theological Seminary. Stephen’s new book explores the similarities and differences between communities of faith and communities of recovery. Stephen has traveled both worlds and shares his insights and experiences gained and researched along...

Father Bill completes the series with the help of Mike V. from Akron, Ohio. Mike and Fr. Bill share some of their experiences with shadow work and how they integrate it into their practice of Two Way Prayer. Show Notes: Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche by Robert A. Johnson Robert Johnson YouTube Lecture on Shadow Robert Johnson YouTube Lecture on Active Imagination...

Fr. Bill continues the study of the human Shadow ala Robert A. Johnson.  This episode completes the reading of Johnson’s book arriving at the holy place where paradoxes collide to form something wholly new. Johnson makes use of "the mandorla" to describe this. Mandorla is Italian for the almond shape formed when two circles begin to overlap. Something new is created in the center. It may be w...

Fr. Bill continues an exploration of the Shadow ala Robert A. Johnson.  This episode looks at how we project our Shadow onto others. “It’s a spiritual axiom that any time I am disturbed there’s something wrong with the people around me!” Show Notes: Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche by Robert A. Johnson

Fr. Bill follows Robert Johnson down into the workings of the Shadow-side of our personalities. Johnson uses the example of the seesaw to show the danger of attempting to focus attention on only one side of the personality. If we try to become “holy” instead of trying to become “whole” – we miss the center of the seesaw – we miss discovering who we are. The Seventh Step prayer reminds us, “My Crea...

Fr. Bill explores the origins of shadow within the development of human consciousness. To adapt to culture, to become civilized, we must each pay a price. That price is the repression of the things in us that both society and we ourselves deem unacceptable. Push these things down and they form a shadow in us. Let them build and fester and they’re likely to explode. Befriend them, engage them consc...

Father Bill begins another series based on the work of Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson. Johnson’s book explores Jung’s concept of the Shadow – the hidden, denied, unrealized parts of us that have a life of their own and a way of making their presence felt through explosive bursts of anger or more slowly through lingering depression. The point is, they will come out of their hiding place sooner o...

In late July, Father Bill joined a marathon meeting of alcoholics from around the world honoring the memory of Mike McK., founder of RecoveryTapers. This would have been Mike’s 19th anniversary of recovery. During the pandemic, Mike hosted dozens and dozens of Two Way Prayer workshops and helped introduce many thousands to the transformational prayer practice. Fr. Bill shares his own recovery stor...

Father Bill joins Justin B. from the Reco12 podcast for a discussion of the role C. J. Jung played in the development of Alcoholics Anonymous. Show Notes: Reco12 podcast: https://reco12.buzzsprout.com/1117700/11049225-father-bill-w-carl-jung-and-the-recovery-journey-meeting-112/ Reco12’s Resources from this podcast: Flammarian Engraving Robert Johnson Works Father Bill W Podcast Edward Edinger Wor...

Father Bill continues a deep dive into this Oxford Group set of instructions for practicing Two Way Prayer. This episode explores the Original Pamphlet’s advice for “checking” the guidance you receive. Early AAs knew not every thought they wrote down came from God and the pamphlet provides some simple criteria to help in your discernment. You’ll find this episode filled with practical advice to ke...

Father Bill continues a deep dive into this Oxford Group set of instructions for practicing Two Way Prayer. This episode explores the Original Pamphlet’s advice for preparing to pray, listing during prayer, and writing down the Guidance received in a prayer session. You’ll find this episode filled with practical advice for making this lost,  “life-changing” 11th Step prayer practice your own....

Father Bill continues a deep dive into this Oxford Group set of instructions for being loved and guided by an Inner Voice. Like any experiment, the process requires a degree of “open mindedness” and “willingness” to begin. This episode focuses on the pamphlet’s assertion that “God has an interest and plan for each of us” as well as “an answer for every need and problem we face.” This pamphlet has...

Father Bill starts a deep dive into this Oxford Group set of instructions for finding and being guided by the Inner Voice – what the Big Book calls: “the Great Reality within.” The journey requires our entering and experimenting within the laboratory of our own lives. In this episode the relationship between the three dimensional world of our egos and the fourth dimensional world of Spirit are exp...

This series explores the Oxford Group pamphlet “How to Listen to God.” Written in the late 1930’s by Ohio based Chaplain John Batterson, it summarizes the original practice of Two Way Prayer. The pamphlet circulated widely in Akron, Ohio among AA’s early members and was reintroduced to the recovery community largely through the tireless efforts of AA archivist Wally P. originator of the popular Ba...

Father Bill explores recovery as experienced by African Americans coming into AA. His guest is Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC founder of the Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery. Mark has nearly 40 years in the addiction treatment field teaching at the University of Chicago, Illinois State University, and Loyola University School of Social Work. In this lively discussion...

When young people come into a 12-Step Fellowship they bring special needs that should be addressed if recovery’s to be effective and lasting. Fr. Bill interviews Kirk Campbell who brings many years in the field assisting young addicts. Kirk is the Director of Cornerstone Team Counseling in Houston, Texas. The episode describes the concept of Alternative Peer Groups, now considered a best practice...

This series focuses on those coming to 12-Step recovery for alcohol or drugs but challenged by issues such as anxiety, depression, sexual and emotional traumas as well as those who are members of minority and marginalized populations. Fr. Bill continues his interview with Paul S., author of Paths to Recovery for Gay and Bisexual Drug Addicts. Paul has many years in 12-Step recovery, counseling and...

This series is focused on those coming to 12-Step recovery for alcohol or drugs but challenged by issues such as anxiety, depression, sexual and emotional traumas, as well as those who are members of minority populations. Fr. Bill launches the series interviewing Paul S., author of Paths to Recovery for Gay and Bisexual Drug Addicts, where they share insights from many years in 12-Step recovery. S...

This is the first of several planned interviews with women and men in recovery sharing their experience with Two Way Prayer. Sid found recovery at age 18 and became a bit of a “12 Step Fundamentalist” prior to digging into AA history where he discovered the Pioneer Program and underwent a much deeper spiritual awakening. It appears the future of recovery is in good hands with some of our younger m...

Father Bill completes this deep dive into Robert Johnson’s Inner Gold: Understanding Psychological Projection. This episode examines the search for the “Heavenly Jerusalem.” That’s the Christian symbol for the wholeness we all seek. Johnson warns of the danger in approaching this search “literally” rather than symbolically or ceremonially. He also congratulates and affirms all of us addicts who we...

Father Bill continues a deep dive into Robert Johnson’s Inner Gold: Understanding Psychological Projection. This episode examines the love story told by Dante in his Divine Comedy . The vision of his beloved but elusive Beatrice captivates him and marks him for life. Holding on to the vision while learning to “live life on life’s terms” sends him on a journey to hell and back. It’s a story and a j...