Sober Catholic re-launches!

Posted on September 14, 2010 by paulcoholic

Not that it was offline, but this post announces that starting today, this address is the new “official” home of “Sober Catholic.”

I will still post concurrently at the old site, but only through the end of the month, if that long.

If you subscribed via email or through a feed service, you should find those functions along the righthand sidebar. Pretty much any way you subscribed before is available here. Also, if you have a blog which listed the old site, please change it to this address at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your support. If I have not reciprocated by linking your blog, send me an email.

This site contains all of the original site’s blogposts and maybe 90% of the comments. It also has all of the links of the old, minus a few defunct ones.

There are a few more things that I have to complete here, namely registering this site with blog directories and so forth, but in essence whatever was at the old site is now here. I have yet to figure out how to upload photos and videos, but I’ll figure that out eventually. I know people who can assist. They know who they are. 🙂

So, with that said, welcome, and I should be here for years and years, God willing.

An attitude of gratitude is greatly extended to BroJer, of Bro Jer’s Blog for his kindness and generosity in helping out this endeavor. I know I’m cramping his style by saying such nice things about him, so: “Mwuahahahahahahahahaha!!!!”

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Triumph of the Cross Novena

Posted on September 6, 2010 by paulcoholic

Dymphna, over at Dymphna’s Well started yesterday a Novena for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This Feast is also known as the “Triumph of the Cross” and is celebrated on September 14th. It also serves as the conclusion of the “Little Lent” we’ve been observing as the Feast is 40 days after the Transfiguration. See here: “Second” Lent!.

Here is a copy and paste of the Novena prayer, taken from her blog: Dymphna’s Well: Exaltation of the Holy Cross Novena:

“Jesus, Who because of Your burning love for us willed to be crucified and to shed Your Most Precious Blood for the redemption and salvation of our souls, look down upon us and grant the petition we ask for …( mention here)

We trust completely in Your Mercy.

Cleanse us from sin by Your Grace,
sanctify our work,
give us and all those who are dear to us our daily bread, lighten the burden of our sufferings,
bless our families,
and grant to the nations, so sorely afflicted,
Your Peace, which is the only true peace, so that by obeying Your Commandments we may come at last to the glory of Heaven. ”

Please recite it daily (I won’t be posting it daily, I will just leave it up as I will be not blogging during the Novena.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Ask the pathways of old

Posted on September 4, 2010 by paulcoholic

The Old Testament Reading from today’s Daytime Prayer had something that stuck out for me:

Jeremiah 6:16: “Thus says the LORD: Stand beside the earliest roads, ask the pathways of old “Which is the way to good”, and walk it; thus you will find rest for your souls.”

(Via USCCB.)

This sort of reminds me of lines from AA’s “Big Book” in which the newly sober are advised to re-examine the religion of their youth and also to listen to religious members and take the best of what they offer.

I do not know how many people nowadays respect this advice. I did, and I felt it justified my seeking out my Catholic faith and what it had to offer for alcoholism in my very early days of recovery. I was going to do it anyway, but it provided some needed support as early on I discovered the bias against organized religion (i.e. the Catholic Church).

My interpretation is probably taken out of context from whatever Jeremiah meant, but seeking out the ancient Faith of Catholicism with all its history of saints, miracles, healing and holiness was an obvious thing to turn to to shore up the shallow spirituality that is Twelve Steps.

The Catholic Faith is the sure road to Salvation.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Prayer to Redeem Lost Time

Posted on September 4, 2010 by paulcoholic

Those of us who are alcoholics and addicts have a lot of wasted time in our past. Gone missing are all the years when we were trapped in our addictions. We can learn from them and vow to never repeat those mistakes, assuming we’ve learned from them, but there is still the nagging sense of loss over those years.

No matter how we have turned our recovery into gain and made the most of our second chance (or third, or fourth), we wonder “What might have been?”

Shadowlands has a nice prayer in her sidebar. I’ve blogged about it before, but I searched for the link and it is no longer found at the original site (“Spirit Daily”, if you must know.) I’m glad I’ve found it now on her blog. It is a “Prayer to Redeem Lost Time”, and saying it is comforting:

“Prayer to Redeem Lost Time”O MY GOD! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Thy sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that Thou, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that Thou can do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Thy grace, both now and the future, that I may appear before Thee in “wedding garments.” Amen.

(Via Living in the Shadowlands.)

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

ARTIST 4 GOD

Posted on September 3, 2010 by paulcoholic

In another blogpost on art as a vehicle for spiritual progression I must mention my wife’s new website: ARTIST4GOD.

Rose (my wife) has an extensive site detailing her work, which includes lots of nature and religious photography. Nature walks and exploration, along with prayer and going to Churches, are my personal methods for “going outside to get outside” so, I have a soft spot in my heart for these portfolios of hers.

In addition to tabs and links to her portfolios, she is also attempting to develop an online community. The “Forums” section of her site has dedicated sections for Catholic Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, as well as other charitable service and volunteering topics. Not to mention a nice section for artists to gather, discuss things and get to know each other.

Her work is offered for sale, with links to external sites that hosts some of her projects. She adds new artwork often.

Please take a moment to explore her site! Anything that connects you to God helps you to stay away from your addiction. Art that is done well, whether it is photography or painting, assists in that.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Mystical “Magical” “Real-life Sci-fi” Mysteries of the Catholic Mass

Posted on August 31, 2010 by paulcoholic

A good online friend of mine has an incredible and I think potentially very useful project from an educational perspective.

His name is Bryan Bustard and his project is a series of paintings on The Mystical “Magical” “Real-life Sci-fi” Mysteries of the Catholic Mass

Most Catholics do not understand exactly what the Mass is. It is not simply yet another “worship service” like the Protestants have. The Mass is a union of Heaven and Earth, where the Last Supper is presented again and the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary is ongoing, from across time and space. There is only “one sacrifice”, and Jesus did it, but it is continued from 2,000 years ago at every Catholic Mass.

When you are at a Catholic Mass, it is as if you are present at the Last Supper and are at the foot of the Cross with Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the others.

Bryan’s artistic endeavor attempts to, well, illustrate this reality through a series of paintings. He needs funding to do this and to that end is requesting donations through the Kickstarter Project. Kickstarter is a way form people to obtain funding and patronage for the works.

Bryan has about 17 days left to raise the money needed and has a long ways to go to accomplish this. Hence, I am blogging about the project here and am asking that you take a look at the site: The Mystical “Magical” “Real-life Sci-fi” Mysteries of the Catholic Mass and please consider contributing.

This may be the first of a series of posts on Catholic art. Art, either the creation or appreciation of, is to me a form of spiritual development as good art takes you outside yourself and connects you to God.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Sober Catholic has moved here!

Posted on August 14, 2010 by paulcoholic

Note: this is just a copy of the post from the original blog, I included it here just because I wanted to.

Quick on the heels of Catholic Recovery relocating to its own domain at Recovery for Christ I am announcing that Sober Catholic will be moving to a new location too.

After using Blogger and being hosted by Google on their Blogspot servers for over 3 1/2 years, I finally got my own domain name and a new host. I will also be using WordPress for templates and some blog administration.

I have no issues with Blogger or even Google. The opportunity arose for me to get a web address for this blog and I took it. Therefore I decided to use a different blogging service that fits in well with my new host. There is a steeper learner curve (for me, at least) with WordPress, but they offer more flexibility for site design and functions. Having my own host and my own domain frees me from the fear that someone can “flag” my blog for spam or “offensiveness” if they don’t like what I write. It has never happened to me, but there is always a first time. From what I’ve heard from other bloggers, it can be difficult (as in time-consuming) to convince a free hoster that your blog isn’t a spam or a porn site.

I will give all readers plenty of notice before ceasing to post to this blog. All posts and most comments have already been exported to the new blog. All I have to do is work on getting the blogrolls and link lists up and running.

I will continue to post both here and at the new location, which is here, or if the link isn’t viewable, go to https://www.sobercatholic.com . With my Mac’s blog editor I can post to both sites almost at once. I will keep doing this until I am certain that most readers know of the new web address.

So, please change your bookmarks to this, or https://www.sobercatholic.com . You can already subscribe to new posts and comments at the new site (upper right corner). I hope that by the end of the month the transition will be complete and I can stop posting here.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)