Tribes of the recovering community – Calix Society

~ Jason Schwartz

calixlogo

This week’s tribe is the Calix Society.

Calix is an association of Catholic alcoholics who are maintaining their sobriety through affiliation with and participation in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our first concern is to interest Catholics with an alcoholic problem in the virtue of total abstinence. Our second stated purpose is to promote the spiritual development of our membership. Our gathering today is an effort in this direction. Our conversation and our association together should be a source of inspiration and encouragement to each other, geared to our growth toward spiritual maturity. Our participation in all other spiritual activities of Calix, such as the frequent celebration of the Liturgy, reception of the Sacraments, personal prayer and meditation, Holy Hours, Days of Recollection and retreats, aid us in our third objective, namely, to strive for the sanctification of the whole personality of each member. We welcome other alcoholics, not members of our faith, or any others, non-alcoholics, who are concerned with the illness of alcoholism and wish to join with us in prayer for our stated purposes.

(The “Tribes of the recovering community” series is intended to demonstrate the diversity within the recovering community.I have no first hand knowledge of most of the tribes, so inclusion in this series should not be considered an endorsement.)

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.

3 thoughts on “Tribes of the recovering community – Calix Society”

  1. I really wish you didn’t use the term “tribes” for this series, Especially as we are seeing more and more Misrepresentations of Indigenous Peoples showing up in various ways including the use of Native images and/or tribal names in logos, on consumer products and as mascots for sports teams.

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    1. Hi Jesika, I hear you on the use of Native American images and terms that are exploitive and/or pejorative. It’s far too common in our culture and I appreciate others who speak up about it.

      However, I’m having a hard time seeing how that concern applies here. The word tribe predates and has broader meaning than reference to Native American groups.

      This use of the term is lifted from William White’s Pathways from the culture of addiction to the culture of recovery.

      If there’s something I’m not getting, let me know.

      Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  2. Pingback: Tribes of the Recovering Community | Addiction & Recovery News

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