Like any pioneer he met opposition and had to have fortitude. "the whole career of Father Pfau can only be understood in the light of the fact that he was a pioneer. Pfau favored limiting religious references to the absolute minimum in order to avoid offending newcomers. Role of religion in Alcoholics Anonymous Its publications, especially "Alcoholism Source Book for Priests," and the annual "Blue Book," made a deep impact on the American Catholic Hierarchy. In 1948 he founded the National Clergy Conference on Alcoholism, an organization devoted to the problems of priests, and directed it for many years. People began requesting copies of "the golden book of your retreat." They were so named because when he held the second annual retreat in June 1947, at the request of some of the people who had attended the first retreat his talks were printed in a fifty-six page booklet with a gold cover, and distributed as a souvenir, through the generosity of the owner of the archdiocesan newspaper in Indianapolis. His retreat talks were eventually published in a series of 14 Golden Books. His retreats were attended by thousands of Catholics and by many more thousands who were not Catholics.
He traveled more than 50,000 miles a year to address meetings, conduct retreats and help individuals. With the approval of his Archbishop, he devoted himself to helping other alcoholics, particularly alcoholic priests. He threw them away after discussing the problem with a doctor familiar with alcoholism. For a short time he continued to take medications prescribed by his doctor and by Mayo Clinic. įor the next 25 years, despite severe problems with depressions, he never took another drink. That was November 10, 1941, Pfau's 37th birthday. He eventually called the person whose name was on the brochures, Doherty Sheerin, who introduced Pfau to the program. Later he read pamphlets on AA left by a member in the church.ĭuring this period of not drinking he stepped up the medication the doctor had prescribed, a combination of barbital and Dexedrine. Pfau noticed a copy of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous on the shelf. He learned about AA when calling on a parishioner who was thought to be dying but was just passed out from alcohol and drugs. Įven after achieving sobriety, he continued to be plagued by depressions. He experienced nervous breakdowns and spent time in sanitariums. By 1943 he was sufficiently worried about his drinking to investigate A.A. He took his first drink about a year after his ordination. But he eventually came to believe that, though he had not chosen the priesthood, he was chosen for it. He was unsure he wanted to be a priest, and for many years, especially during his periods in sanitariums, and during the worst periods of his alcoholism, he continued to doubt the validity of his ordination. He became a priest in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Meinrad Seminary, and received a Master of Arts in Education at Fordham University. Ralph’s mother referred to him as her son who was going to become a priest, which created pressure on him as he was growing up. His older brother Jerome was a priest who had earned a doctorate from Rome, and taught at St. His uncle Al was the Bishop of Nashville, Tennessee. Several family members had served the church: his uncle George was a priest. Pfau was raised by his mother, who came from an Indiana German family. His father, who was of French and German descent, died when Pfau was four. A sixth brother had died before he was born. Pfau was born on November 10, 1904, the youngest of five brothers. 6 Role of religion in Alcoholics Anonymous.
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