"Thoughtful, positive advice on almost every human experience. Helpful in examining character defects or in exploring the realm of spirituality; firmly grounded in the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous."--

In analyzing the various principles of Alcoholics Anonymous we now come to one which has come up for more discussion, and which is at the bottom of more difficulties than any of all the ones listed. This principle is: “THE DANGER OF RESENTMENT—SELF PITY” In the alcoholic, “frustration begot resentment, resentment begot self-pity, self-pity begot drinking, and drinking begot frustration, and frustration begot resentment, and resentment begot self-pity,” and on and on and on—in an unending cycle, until faced with the three-pronged choice: sobriety or insanity or death. And then we chose sobriety in A.A. And we learned the principle that: If the alcoholic repeated any PART of the cycle, the ENTIRE cycle would repeat ITSELF, “in toto.” We learned through the above principle that to the alcoholic, resentment and self-pity would always remain his number one twin-enemy—no matter how long sober. And this means that, if he permits himself to indulge in resentment or self-pity too frequently or for too prolonged periods of time, he will automatically set off the compulsion to drink. In short: AN ALCOHOLIC CANNOT TOLERATE RESENTMENT. If he does, there automatically will begin the old pattern: “stinking-thinking; drinking-thinking; drinking.” And so also will it be with any part of the cycle above: If the alcoholic takes a drink, he will automatically and ultimately become full of resentments, etc. etc. We do not know why this happens, but we do know from long, long experience that it does happen.

The Golden Book of Resentments is one of a series of Golden Books that Fr. John Doe wrote based on the topic of retreats he has given over the years.

This workbook is intended to help people who are taking or who have taken a Golden Book of Resentments Retreat thoroughly study the topic and provide a written recorrd for future reference.

Father Ralph Pfau was one of AAs four most-published and most-formative authors (along with Bill Wilson, Richmond Walker, and Ed Webster) during the new movements earliest thirty years, during which it grew from only 100 members to almost 300,000. In the first ten years Pfau spent working to spread AA, he said I have traveled nearly 750,000 miles .... I have spoken before nearly two hundred thousand members of AA at retreats, meetings and conventions, and personally discussed problems with more than ten thousand alcoholics. He produced fourteen extremely popular books, called the Golden Books, under the pen name Father John Doe, along with other books and recordings. When he joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1943, he became the first Roman Catholic priest to get sober in the newly formed movement. An alcoholic and drug addict, he had spent the previous ten years being removed from parish after parish, as his drinking and addiction to downers got out of control over and over again. He taught the spirituality of imperfection, drawing from St. Thrse of Lisieuxs Little Way and St. Augustines teaching of God as Truth Itself the forgiving God who touches us in our fallenness, in acts of sudden psychological insight in which our whole perspective on life undergoes sweeping positive quantum changes. Over and over he calmed peoples fear of God by reminding them that perfection was a myth, and that no human being could do it all. He was one of the most creative and interesting American Catholic theologians of his era.

Includes Part 1, Number 1 & 2: Books and Pamphlets, Including Serials and Contributions to Periodicals (January - December)