User:Ursasapien/Sandbox/Father Martin

Joseph C. Martin is a Roman Catholic priest, recovering alcoholic and reknowned speaker/educator on the issues of alcoholism and drug addiction.

Background
Martin attended St. Thomas Aquinas elementary school from 1930 to 1938, and then completed four years of secondary education at Loyola high school. He then went on to Loyola College graduating in 1944. Martin entered St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland in 1944, where he studied philosophy and theology. At the age of 24 years old, Father Joseph C. Martin was ordained a priest on May 22, 1948 for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Father Martin's first assignment was to St. Joseph's College, a prep seminary serving the Archdiocese of San Francisco. In 1951, Father Martin completed the rigorous training required to become a Sulpician. His next assignment was back to St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland which was a Suplician Seminary.

During this time, Father Martin's drinking began to increase and his behaviour became more erratic. Despite repeated warnings, he was unable to get his drinking under control. Finally, the Archdiocese was forced to take action and send Father Martin for intervention and treatment.

Treatment at the Guest House
On June 15, 1958, Father Martin entered Guest House in Lake Orion, Michigan, a treatment facility for the clergy, which was founded and operated by Austin Ripley. While drinking himself, Austin Ripley came across a copy of the Saturday Evening Post and discovered an article featuring Alcoholics Anonymous. The article described how this new (five year old) organization, was having success helping alcoholics get and stay sober. It also talked about their “Big Book” which had only been in print for one year. As a result of this article, Austin Ripley began his journey of recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous. During a year's period of time, Austin Ripley spent as much time as he could with the founders of A. A., Bill W. and Dr. Bob. He gained valuable knowledge and information about them and the program they founded.

Father Martin met Austin Ripley on the first day of his stay at The Guest House. He also was introduced to a Dr. Walter Green, another recovering alcoholic. Dr. Green was the first to talk about the intellect and the emotion and how drugs and alcohol cause the emotions to over-rule the intellect.

Father deeply admired Austin Ripley and was so impressed with Dr. Green's lectures, that he saved his notes and 14 years later would use them to give his famous “Chalk Talks”. These lectures have been heard by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Father has always given credit to both men for teaching him everything he knows about alcoholism.

There have been many advances in the field of alcoholism and drug addictions. However, there is one thing that has remained the same and that is the original message of Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith given to Father Martin from Austin Ripley. Today, the disease of addiction should be treated with a multi-faceted approach. One of these approaches should always be the “Truth” which gives the alcoholic and addict hope. This is the message that Father Martin delivers in his recovery materials.

Career after treatment
After Father Martin got sober and learned all he could from Austin Ripley and Dr. Walter Green, he embarked on a campaign of spreading the message of experience and hope. He attended and completed the Rutgers Summer School of Alcohol Studies during the summer of 1971. He worked as a lecturer and educator in the Division of Alcoholism Control for the State of Maryland and as a as a free lance consultant on alcoholism since the fall of 1973. In 1972, Father Martin first put his lecture Chalk Talk on Alcohol on film for the US Navy. He and Mrs. Mae Abraham started Kelly Productions, Inc., to produce and distribute this and other lectures on various media. "Chalk Talk" would eventually become his signature lecture and would be widely utilized in most branches of the US Federal Government (especially the armed services), business and industry presentations, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and many state alcohol programs. He has made many other films, tapes, CDs and DVDs on various aspects of the disease and recovery from it. He is the author of a several publications including “No Laughing Matter” published by Harper & Row in 1982. In 1983 Father Martin and Mrs. Mae Abraham founded Father Martin’s Ashley, a non-profit center dedicated to the treatment of the chemically addicted, located in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Father Martin also continued to work within the church and participated in the International Conference on Drugs and Alcohol sponsored by the Vatican in 1991.