It is always a special joy to speak about Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.’s Spiritual Sponsor, my biography of Father Edward Dowling, SJ, at a Jesuit parish, and even more so when the parish in question is one that Dowling himself would have visited. I had that joy last week when Father Mark Thibodeaux, SJ, an accomplished author in his own right, hosted me for a Father Ed talk at Holy Name of Jesus, the parish on the campus of Loyola University New Orleans (which also was the home parish of the subject of my next biography, Father Louis J. Twomey, SJ).
The video above captures nearly all my talk; it just misses the very first line, where I say that I'm honored to speak about Father Ed even though he would have called me "underprivileged." And then I explain who the underprivileged were to Dowling: they were those who lacked the good fortune of being members of Alcoholics Anonymous. To Father Ed (himself underprivileged), the A.A.'s were truly privileged people.
