Read All About It

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM

• Addiction is a disease.

• It is a primary illness, not caused by some outside circumstance. It is progressive, incurable and fatal.

• Addiction is a problem of brain-chemistry; it is a medical issue, not a moral problem.

• Because of it, alcoholics and addicts have lost the power of choice in the matter. Addiction is a progressive, fatal, incurable disease characterized by compulsive use, loss of control over use, and continued use despite negative consequences.

• Some addicts suffer from “process addictions”. These people are “getting high” from certain behaviors. Sex, binging and purging, restricting, gambling, spending – all of these behaviors can become addictions

• A person suffering from this disease is not a bad person who needs to learn how to be good, but an ill person who needs to learn how to be well.

• Addiction is a physical, mental, emotional illness that yields most surely to a spiritual remedy.
  
  

WHAT'S THAT GOT TO DO WITH US?

• Alcohol use disorder affects about 1 in 10 Americans age 12 and older—nearly 28 million people in the United States.  (NIAAA)

• About 178,000 people die each year in the United States from excessive alcohol use, making alcohol one of the leading preventable causes of death.   (CDC)

• Alcohol is involved in about 30% of traffic fatalities in the United States. (arXiv)

• Alcohol plays a role in a significant share of violent crime, including many homicides and assaults.

• Alcohol misuse shortens lives dramatically; alcohol-related deaths account for millions of years of potential life lost each year in the United States.

• Alcohol misuse contributes to many family disruptions, including divorce and domestic violence.

• An estimated 25–40% of hospital beds are occupied by patients with alcohol-related illnesses or injuries.

• Nearly 30 million Americans have alcohol use disorder, yet fewer than 10% receive any treatment.  (Gitnux)

• Alcohol misuse costs the United States hundreds of billions of dollars each year in health care, crime, and lost productivity.

• Drug use also continues to rise among older adults in the United States.

• More than 8 million children live with at least one parent who has a substance use disorder.

• Drug overdose deaths have increased dramatically in the past two decades and now claim over 100,000 lives per year in the United States.

• The most commonly used illicit drug in the United States is marijuana, followed by misuse of prescription pain medications and other drugs.
  

• Addiction affects people of every age, gender, race, economic status, and religion—including the people sitting in your pews.
  

WHAT CAN WE DO?

• Alcoholism and addiction are recognizable by those who are adequately informed. The clergy are uniquely related to the delivery of appropriate care to the specific needs of those who are stricken because the clergy are sent to search out the sick and needy and to minister to them.

• The nature of the disease of addiction is such that those who are its victims are incapable of recognizing the severity of their symptoms.

• Clergy and laity alike must learn enough about what the disease looks like, how it manifests, and what its impacts are, so that an effective pastoral response can be made and meaningful support offered.

• Get acquainted with recovering people in your parish; find out what Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and other Twelve Step programs are; know about treatment facilities in your community; locate resources.

• Encourage an informed congregation. Start a Recovery Ministries Commission

• Read the book Alcoholics Anonymous. AAs call it the “Big Book”, the Narcotics Anonymous “Basic Text”, Courage to Change from Al-Anon or any number of other texts on the subject. Include them in your church library.
  
  

SUPPORT RECOVERY

• Visit an Open 12 Step meeting.

• Read “A Renewed Call to Action”.

• Plan a “Recovery Sunday Celebration” every year.

• Schedule recovery events such as talks in your education program by recovering people.

• Insure that clergy are knowledgeable about alcoholism and substance abuse, symptoms, intervention, and treatment. This includes knowledge about the increasing problem of prescription drug/pain killer addiction.

• Plan and implement an educational effort in your parish so that every person knows some basic facts about alcoholism and addiction and its terrible cost to affected individuals, families, the Church and society.

• Make sure everyone knows this is a disease, not a moral failing.
  
  

DO THIS

• Enlist one person in your parish to act as the Recovery Coordinator to stay in touch with Recovery Ministries, to be the point to which information about publications, programs, seminars, retreats, and recommendations can be gathered, and who will disseminate that to parishioners.

• You and your parish become an active, participating member of Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church.

• Adopt a Parish Policy on the use of alcohol at church events.

• Schedule recovery events such as talks in your education program by recovering people.

• Get acquainted with recovering persons/groups in your parish and use them as resources for more understanding.

• Make space available in your buildings for recovery groups to meet. (See our pamphlet “Hosting a Twelve-Step Meeting in Your Church”).
  
  

RECOVERY SUNDAY... WHAT IS IT?

• Recovery Sunday is a celebration of the deliverance by God’s grace of persons who have been imprisoned by a punishing and bewildering illness.

• Such celebration can include worship built around a “Twelve Step” Eucharist, a talk by a recovering person, or a sermon about God’s grace as offered and seen in recreated lives of recovering people. It may include distribution of educational pamphlets about alcoholism and other addictions, and information about what this parish does to support recovery, where help is available, and who to contact.

• Some parishes arrange for a special “open” AA, Al-Anon or other 12 step meeting during the day, and Sunday school classes about the issue.
  
  

HOW TO DO IT

• Decide what Sunday this year will work for your parish calendar. Set that day aside to Celebrate the inexplicable grace that empowers recovery.

• Locate a member of Recovery Ministries or a recovering person who is willing to help. You can find someone with help from your Diocesan Recovery Ministry or from local AA or other 12-step groups.

• Design your services around a 12-Step Eucharist and Recovery speaker.

• Arrange for that speaker, or another, to talk to an adult class, or visit with a youth group later in the day.

• Do advance publicity about the events.

• Call for literature from Recovery Ministries or visit the website for links and ideas.
  
  

HOPE FOR TODAY