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January 2, 2023By Gina Christian, OSV News
(OSV News) -- Patrick Kennedy, a lifelong Philadelphia resident, spent decades chasing a high he could never attain.
"My primary substances of abuse were methamphetamine and marijuana," he told OSV News. "I had bouts with opiates in between."
Now, the 57-year-old has a new way of seeking solace: daily Mass.
"The first time I truly experienced the Real Presence of Jesus Christ -- my Savior -- in the Eucharist, I was euphoric," said Kennedy, who has been sober for five years. "I had tears coming down my face. I felt punch-drunk for hours afterward."
Along with hundreds worldwide, Kennedy is pursuing recovery with the help of a long-running but little-known Catholic ministry: the Calix Society.
Based in Glenside, Pennsylvania, the international organization -- named after the Latin word for "cup" -- promotes sacramental spirituality among Catholics who are in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. Calix programming was commended by Pope St. Paul VI during a 1974 address to members honoring the society's 25th anniversary.
Currently, the organization counts some 1,000 participants among 35 chapters, or "units," spread across the U.S., Australia, Canada, England, Ireland and Scotland, according to Calix Society president Ken Johnston.
Calix meetings, most of which are held at parishes, typically begin with Mass or, if a priest is unavailable, the rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet or other form of prayer. Eucharistic adoration and devotions to patron saints of recovery -- including St. Mark Ji, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Monica, Venerable Matt Talbot and Our Lady of Recovery -- also take place. Afterward, attendees gather for fellowship and faith-sharing, in a format similar to that used by 12-step recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
"We're not an alternative to AA; we're an addition to it," Johnston said. "AA keeps you from an early grave. Calix puts you on the road to heaven."
The two organizations were founded in the Midwest just years apart: AA in 1935 and Calix in 1947, with the latter building on an AA principle (or "step") of seeking God through prayer and meditation, in order to receive guidance and grace.
"It all started with that 11th step," said Father Douglas McKay, an Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest and the international chaplain of the Calix Society. "You improve that conscious contact with God by going right to the source: the Eucharist, from which all the blessings and all the graces flow."
Father McKay -- who lost his own brother to a drug overdose and who has devoted more than 40 years to addiction ministry -- said Calix's founders recognized the power of the Eucharist to heal the wounds of substance abuse.
It began when five laymen, all from the Minneapolis area, petitioned a local pastor to celebrate a 5 a.m. daily Mass for the recovery of an addicted priest, said Father McKay, author of a newly released book on the history of the Calix Society.
After several weeks, the addicted priest (described by the pastor as "a tough bunny" given to repeated binges) began to maintain his sobriety, a "moral miracle" that has become commonplace among Calix units, said Father McKay.
"Here in our South Philadelphia unit, I had one guy who was originally in the Mafia," Father McKay said. "Then he then ended up doing things like visiting the Blessed Sacrament at 3 a.m., attending Mass, becoming a daily communicant and a lector, and eventually dying a holy death."
Such transformations are possible because "the Eucharist is a game-changer," said Johnston, noting that Calix members, most of whom are already Catholic, usually seek out the society after "living for decades not really knowing what holy Communion is."
After connecting their recovery with their spirituality, Calix participants "come back with this ardent desire for the faith," Johnston said.
Kennedy said his own recovery journey is an example.
"One of the definitions of addiction is disconnection," he said. "I needed to find that connection, and it turned out to be a spiritual one. That led me to Calix, and to going back to Mass."