“I started The Calix Society in Edinburgh because I felt there was a real gap in the recovery community for a focus on Catholic spirituality and fellowship,” says Grace, a parishioner at St Patrick’s in Edinburgh.
The Calix Society offers a Catholic ministry to alcoholics in recovery by deepening or rediscovering their faith and sharing the healing mercy of God.
It promotes the virtue of daily abstinence and the spiritual development of its members.
Grace said: “Recovery through a 12-step programme completely changed my life for the better and gave me a set of spiritual tools and an openness to dependence on God that enabled me to live happily in sobriety.
“It also brought me back to the Church and a relationship with our Lord, which has again taken me on a much deeper path of healing and hope.”
The Calix Society in Edinburgh meets on the first Saturday of the month at 1:30pm, following the 12:30pm Mass at St Patrick’s Church in The Cowgate, Edinburgh. All welcome.
The Society hosts a talk on Venerable Matt Talbot* this Saturday 7 March at 1:30pm in St Patrick’s.
Grace added: “12-step Fellowships are intended as a neutral space for all religions and none, which is a huge feature of their success in reaching those suffering, but means that those seeking to discuss things from their faith based perspective need another place to gather.
“Calix meets this need, draws us closer to God through our Church and gives us an opportunity to support each other along the journey.”
The Calix Society in Edinburgh can be contacted at calixedinburgh@gmail.com
*About Matt Talbot
- Born into poverty, Talbot began drinking excessively at age 12 while working for a wine merchant. By 13, he was a confirmed alcoholic and spent 16 years squandering his wages on drink, even pawning his boots for alcohol.
- In 1884, at age 28, a penniless Talbot was ignored by his drinking friends outside a pub. Disgusted, he returned home and told his mother he was going to “take the pledge“—a solemn promise to abstain from alcohol.
- He maintained sobriety for the remaining 41 years of his life through a rigorous regime of daily Mass, prayer, and penance. He was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order (Third Order) and became a self-taught student of theology and mysticism.
