Never in a Million Years.......

Have you ever had a moment where you just step back and say "WOW! How did I get here?"

I had this happen this week as a direct result of a great weekend in Omaha, Nebraska of all places! Omaha was the site of this year's national convention of the The International Calix Society. Approximately 40 members of the Calix Society gathered at Creighton University in Omaha for a weekend of fellowship and talks about alcoholism, addicition. spirituality and the Catholc faith. The talks and fellowship were top notch.

On Friday evening we made a trip out to Boystown, where Fr. Flanagan began a fantastic ministry for boys in need of a "little" driection. The main thought I came away with is that this was one man's dream and today there are 500 boys and girls living in "family" settings at Boystown and many of them will be successful in life as a direct result of Boystown.

On Saturday afternoon is when the Calix Society has its anual business meeting to review the goings on of the society. Every two years they hold elections for the board of directors, president and vice president. A few months ago I had been nominated for the office of president and since there were no other nominees I have been given the opportunity to serve as president of this great organization.

The WOW moment is this: Almost 19 years ago my life was a wreck. I had reached "the bottom" of my desperate situation that consisted of drinking, lying, resentment, fear, anger, you name it! There was no time for God in my life and I didn't believe that God would ever want anything to do with me again. It was through divine intervention that I managed to find sobriety and through the twelve steps I made my way back to my Catholic faith and through both that I found the Calix Society. It's only three years since some friends and I started the first Calix group in Philadelphia. Since January 2007 we have expanded to 3 groups and are slowly spreading the word about Calix. This past weekend's events served as confirmation that Calix is now alive and well in Philadelphia and we are on our way to helping many Catholic (and non-Catholic) alcoholics and addicts achieve the great spritiual experience that is required to permanently recover from a "seemingly hopeless state of mind and body".

Read more about Calix in Philadelphia at http://www.philly-calix.com/