THE PRIEST, Vo1.49: 19-20, March, 1993.

The Clergy's Role in A.A.'s Fifth Step

By Jack O'Neill

Every parish has at least one alcoholic.

Every priest will witness the physical, mental and spiritual
devastation of the disease of alcoholism many times during his
ministry.
It is incumbent, therefore, upon every priest - and every
student for the priesthood - to familiarize himself with the Twelve
Steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. It is likewise important
for every priest to be familiar with the Fifth Step and that he let
it be known in his parish that he has that knowledge.
Step Five of the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps is:

"Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the

exact nature of our wrongs."

It is the natural follow-up to the previous Step, "Made a

searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Once the
spotlight of honesty has been focused on the past, the recovering
person needs to find a way to get rid of that past. The person needs
to find a mechanism that helps to make the past a learning tool for
the building of a future.

THE REAL REASON

In the famous 12 Steps and 12 Traditions book of A.A., it is

written in the chapter that discusses the Fifth Step:
 "But of the things which really bother and burn us, we say
nothing. Certain distressing or humiliating memories, we tell
ourselves, ought not to be shared with anyone. These will remain our
secret. Not a soul must ever know. We hope they'll go to the grave
with us."

But the real reason for the Fifth Step is also contained in
that same chapter:

"Most of us (in A.A.) would declare that without a fearless

admission of our defects to another human being, WE COULD NOT STAY
SOBER (Emphasis is mine). It seems plain that the grace of God will
not enter to expel our destructive obsessions until we are willing
to try this."

In other words, the Fifth Step is necessary for continuous

sobriety.

SOUND PRACTICE

For the recovering alcoholic, Step Five is the beginning of

true kinship with man and God.
The practice of admitting one's defects to someone else is a
very ancient one. For almost 2,000 years it has been a sacramental
practice in the Catholic Church. It is an exercise in humility and
honesty that characterizes the lives of all spiritually centered and
truly religious people. Some spiritual directors consider it the
foundation for any active, profound and meaningful spiritual life.
It has also been a sound therapeutic practice for
psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and therapists. It is a
cleansing process and the discovery, acknowledgement, admission and
discussion of one's character defects is looked upon as an important
beginning of the change process.
Most A.A. members do not have much of a problem admitting the
exact nature of their wrongs to God and to themselves. But the
sharing of the results of the searching and fearless moral inventory
with another human being is something else again. It is very, very
difficult.
In the early stages of recovery, it can be difficult for the
alcoholic to trust anyone who is not in the A.A. program. In the
early stages of recovery, the alcoholic is still learning to trust
himself and to be trusting of others.

BARGAINING TO REQUEST

Many recovering people have been away from any organized

religion for a long time. Their relationship with their Higher Power
is changing almost every day. They have moved from the desperate
bargaining of "God, just get me out of this jam and I'll never drink
again and will give all my money to the poor and will vote in every
election and will become a cloistered Religious" to the simple
request of "God, please help me to get through this day without
taking that first drink." As the days of sobriety add up, their
level of trust in God increases and their relationship with God
grows stronger and stronger. hey came to believe that a power
greater than themselves can restore them to sanity.
Many recovering alcoholics prefer to take this all important
Fifth Step with a priest. They feel more comfortable telling the
exact nature of their wrongs and their character defects to someone
who has had a lot of practice in the art of listening without being
judgmental. They feel more secure telling it all to someone who has
a track record for confidentiality - someone they know they can
trust.

BASED ON TALKS

It is important that the distinction between the Fifth Step of

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Sacrament of Reconciliation be
stressed. There was a Jesuit priest in Boston who was also a
recovering alcoholic. He said that when he sat down with someone he
always began with, "Please understand that this is not the Sacrament
of Reconciliation. This is the Fifth' Step of A.A. This iS not priest
and penitent. This is one drunk helping another drunk."
After they had completed the formal taking of the Fifth Step,
if the person so desired, Father would slip on his purple stole and
assume the role of confessor. (much of the information and
suggestions in this article are based upon a number of talks with
this Jesuit as well as with a Franciscan and a former diocesan
priest all of whom are recovering alcoholics and who, in keeping
with the traditions of A.A., preferred to maintain their anonymity
in the press.)
Any priest who is helping the recovering person take the Fifth
Step should help the person to realize that his Higher Power has
forgiven him for all he has done in the past. Now, as part of this
Step, the alcoholic must forgive himself and forgive others,
regardless of how deeply those other persons might have hurt him.
The priest should remind the person that it is critical to the
maintenance of continued sobriety that forgiveness not only be
received but also given.

MAINTAIN OBJECTIVITY

One of the most important things the clergyman can do is to

help the alcoholic to maintain some middle-of-the-road objectivity
about his faults and failings. He should not allow the alcoholic to
self-flagellate to the point of self pity, and, by the same token,
he should not allow the individual to blame everything on other
people. He should not permit the person to deceive himself into
believing that his character defects are any more or less than what
they actually are.
No lasting sobriety can be built on a foundation of negatives.
Therefore, it is essential that the alcoholic be encouraged to
identify positive strengths and assets and that they be used as the
basis for a sober, happy life.
The newly sober alcoholic, especially, needs to be reminded
that no one is all bad. In the early stages of sobriety, the self
image is quite fragile. The priest who is helping with the Fifth
Step can strengthen and improve that self-image. He can help the
alcoholic to feel better about himself simply because he had the
courage and the willingness to face the pain and the embarrassment
of formally taking the Fifth Step of the Alcoholics Anonymous
Program.

NOTHING TO WALLOW IN

In the 12 and 12 book it says, "Until we actually sit down and

talk aloud about what we have so long hidden, our willingness to
clean house is still largely theoretical. When we are honest with
another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves
and God."
When the alcoholic h a s completed h i s Fifth Step and h a s
unburdened himself of the past, the priest should encourage the
person to get on with his life. The priest should explain that while
it is important that he learn from the past, once the Fifth Step is
finished, that it be put behind him. The past is not something to
wallow in. It is over. It is done with. It cannot be changed. The
energies used in regretting the past can be used far more
constructively in improving the quality of today's sobriety.
Once the formality of taking the Fifth Step is finished, the
priest can then offer the alcoholic the opportunity to participate
in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.