Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous [Paperback]

Mary C Darrah (Author), John C. Ford (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2001

Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin epitomized the spirit of love, service, and honesty that today are the hallmarks of Alcoholics Anonymous. As a hospital admissions officer in the 1930s in Akron, Ohio, Sr. Ignatia befriended Dr. Bob Smith, co-founder of AA, and courageously arranged for the hospitalization of alcoholics at a time when alcoholism was viewed as a character weakness rather than a disease.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Darrah is a former addictions counselor and treatment program administrator who now specializes in national public policy issues related to alcohol or drugs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Hazelden; Second Edition edition (August 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568387466
• ISBN-13: 978-1568387468
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Topic, Poor Writing, June 26, 2005

By 

madhatter "madhatterlg" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous (Paperback)

Mary Darrah deserves credit for tackling the biography of a tremendously overlooked personality from AA's past. The story of the little Nun is covered in detail. Darrah does a good job of getting the facts down.

However, this book suffers from stilted language and poor organization. The narrative conveys no passion or excitment, something I'm sure the writer must have possesed in order to cover such an obscure figure as Sister Ignatia. The chapters are not organizaed well and do not flow evenly into each other.
IT almost has the feel of one of those bad textbooks you had in high school.

However, it's still worth laying out the money for this book if you're desiring a better understanding of AA history.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was key to my understanding of how AA works., November 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous (A Campion Book) (Paperback)

In the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous, the recovery rate was about seventy five per cent. Today, the recovery rate is less than one per cent. In the early days of AA, 1935 to 1945, the founders of AA (Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith and Sister Ignatia) operated under the concept that alcoholism was the indication of a spiritual illness. You first took away the alcohol, let the patient go through the withdrawal, and then they trained the alcoholic to be a spiritual person, both by learning to pray, (any religion would do) and then to pass your victory on to other suffering alcoholics. As AA grew, it began to be accepted in government run hospitals. And anything to do with the government has to have nothing to do with religion. So they began to treat alcoholics with psychiatry and downplayed the religious angle, hence the much lower recovery rate. Groups that use religion to treat alcoholics, like Teen Challenge, have an 80% recovery rate. When Sister Ignatia was helping to steer the recovery boat, along with Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob and the assent to Grace, recovery from alcoholism was possible for the first time on this planet. The other influence working against AA's religious methods was the birth, in the late 50's, of political correctness which fears surrender to religion (of ALL kinds) Reading this book about Sr. Ignatia has strenghthened my spirituality in AA. I just celebrated fourteen years sober.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nun Steps Up To The Bar, May 13, 2007

By 

M. Grey (Houston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous (Paperback)

This is a great history of the beginnings of A.A. and of the struggles of Dr. Bob to find a credible medical facility to help in the physical and spiritual recovery of alcoholics. Sr. Ignatia is one more non-alcoholic, like Dr. Silkworth and Fr. Ed Dowling, who serve at a pivotal point in the A.A. story. The author helps us see in Sr. Ignatia's own spiritual and personal biography how uniquely prepared and how providentially generous she was to be able to facilitate Dr. Bob's and A.A.'s program at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. I was intrigued with the seriousness that Sr. Ignatia, the doctors at St. Thomas and the Sisters of Charity in recognizing and attending to the underlying spiritual dimension of alcoholism. They were not the only ones to do this, as the book relates, but they helped bridge the moral/clinical gap that so many professionals and others, then as today, refuse(d) to accept.
I found Sr. Ignatia's life journey very instructive. She was a very diligent teacher of music, professional, and in a sense driven. She had her Waterloo experience in a near nervous breakdown. The doctor asked her if she wanted to be a dead music teacher or a live nun? Thence, began her service as Admissions Director at St. Thomas. She had learned first hand that living life involved ups and downs and that a "mysterious-to-us-at-times" Providence, Power Greater Than Ourselves, God would lead when we were ready to surrender. Living in that awareness allows one to take risks for the good. The story of Sr. Ignatia, Dr. Bob and early A.A. in Akron and Cleveland is a story of risk and fulfillment.