This is a 4 1/2
Hour VHS video of Father Martin’s Chalk Talk series. Father Martin is a
church minister who is a well-known and well-versed public speaker on the
subject of alcoholism and drug abuse. He has first hand knowledge of the
topic and has a very soothing way of sharing it with you. I was first
exposed to Father Martin’s talks while in a local alcoholism treatment
center. His straightforwardness and humor immediately had an impact on me.
I have quite a bit of sobriety now and although the AA program has many
aspects to it, these Father Martin talks have had a big impact on me.
There are 7 different segments on this video.
Leader in fight against alcoholism founded Father Martin's Ashley in
Harford County
By Frederick N. Rasmussen
March 10, 2009
The Rev. Joseph C. Martin, a recovering alcoholic and an
international leader in the fight against alcoholism and substance
abuse who was a co-founder of Father Martin's Ashley, a Harford County
treatment center, died early yesterday of heart disease at his Havre
de Grace home. He was 84.
Father Martin's "Chalk Talk on
Alcohol" and "No Laughing Matter" have become standard tools used by
recovery centers, schools and employee assistance programs the world
over.
"Father Martin is an icon in the treatment industry and
was one of the first to describe alcoholism in layman's terms as a
disease," said Mark Hushen, president and chief executive of Father
Martin's Ashley, located near Havre de Grace.
"He helped
thousands and thousands directly and indirectly with his message all
across the world," he said. Mike Gimbel, a substance-abuse expert who
was Baltimore County drug czar for 23 years and now directs an
anti-steroid program at St. Joseph Medical Center, is an old friend.
"Father Martin has done more to educate and treat those suffering
from addiction than anyone in the past 50 years," Mr. Gimbel said
yesterday. Born in Baltimore, the son of a machinist who was a heavy
drinker, Father Martin was raised in Hampden. He was a 1942 graduate
of Loyola High School and attended Loyola College from 1942 until
1944.
He studied for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary &
University in Roland Park from 1944 to 1948, when he was ordained a
priest of the Society of St. Sulpice.
Father Martin began
drinking while he held teaching positions at St. Joseph's College in
Mountain View, Calif., from 1948 to 1956, and later at St. Charles
Seminary in Catonsville from 1956 to 1959.
"I drank from the
age of 24 to 34," he told The Sun in a 1992
profile. "I was afraid to go near the altar to say Mass six days a
week. I did go on Sunday, but shaking all the while."
After his
troublesome behavior came to the attention of superiors, Father Martin
was confined to a psychiatric ward in California in 1956, and after
his release, returned to drinking double martinis and shots of vodka
from hidden bottles in his bathroom.
"It never occurred to me
that perhaps there was something odd about a priest walking toward a
garbage dump in the middle of the afternoon carrying two suitcases of
clanking bottles," he told The Sun in an
interview last year.
Finally, the Archdiocese of Baltimore sent
Father Martin to Guest House, a Michigan treatment center for the
clergy, to get sober.
By the time he left Guest House, he had
regained his sobriety and found what would become his life's work.
He converted his notes based on Bill Wilson's Alcoholics Anonymous
famous 12-step program into a blackboard talk, which was done on an
actual blackboard with chalk. During the 1960s, he began presenting it
at AA meetings, rehab centers and private businesses.
In 1972,
his "Chalk Talk" lecture was filmed by the Navy and later was picked
up by the other armed forces where it was used as mandatory addiction
training for service personnel.
Father Martin and his
blackboard lecture were in demand all over the world, which gave rise
to his crack: "Have chalk. Will travel."
In 1964, he became
acquainted with Lora Mae Abraham, a mother and a housewife, who was
the daughter of a Baptist minister.
"I've been sober 45 years.
Those years when I was suffering from alcoholism were years of
disgrace and shame, and especially so because I was a woman," said
Mrs. Abraham.
One night in 1964, Mrs. Abraham joined other
members from her AA meeting at the Johns Hopkins University to hear a
lecture featuring Father Martin.
"When he walked out on stage
and said, 'Hello, I'm Joe Martin, and I'm an alcoholic,' and that
alcoholics are not bad people, they have an illness, I surrendered
right there that night," she said. The two became close friends, and
it was Mrs. Abraham who suggested in 1978 that Father Martin establish
a center where alcoholics could come for treatment.
It took
seven years of fundraising before they were able to acquire Oakington,
the former estate of Maryland Sen. Millard Tydings overlooking the
Chesapeake Bay.
The 22-bed facility opened in 1983 and was
named Ashley for Mrs. Abraham's father, the Rev. Arthur Ashley.
The Rev. Leonard A. Dahl, a Presbyterian clergyman, stepped down
two years ago as president and CEO at Ashley.
"He also took me
to my first AA meeting, and I recently celebrated 36 years of
sobriety," Mr. Dahl said of Father Martin. "He believed that
alcoholism was his cross and hymn to carry, and he was never bitter
about the disease."
Father Martin, who liked to say, "Give me a
blackboard, a piece of chalk and a bunch of drunks and I'm at home,"
always greeted new arrivals with a hopeful welcome: "The nightmare is
over."
Father Martin also made sure that no one was turned away
because of their inability to pay for treatment that can cost $20,800
for the 28-day program.
In the more than 30 years since it
accepted its first patient, more than 30,000 people have been treated,
including celebrities from the world of Hollywood, sports and
politics.
While retiring from active management in 2003, Father
Martin, who had celebrated 50 years of sobriety, continued lecturing
patients until late last year.
Michael K. Deaver, former White
House chief of staff during the Reagan administration, had been a
patient and later served on Ashley's board for a decade.
"When
I came to Ashley, I had been with presidents, kings, popes and prime
ministers, but Father Martin was the most powerful person I had ever
met," Mr. Deaver said. "You see, Father has the power to change
people, to make them better, to make them whole again."
A Mass
of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Friday at the Basilica
of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Cathedral and Mulberry streets.
Father Martin is survived by a
brother, Edward Martin of Lilburn, Ga.; two sisters, Frances Osborne
and Dorothy Christopher, both of Baltimore; Mrs. Abraham and her
husband, Tommy Abraham, with whom he lived for 30 years; and many
nieces and nephews.
In remembrance of Father Martin...
Father
Joseph C. Martin, S.S. - October 12, 1924 - March 9, 2009. "My name
is Joe Martin, and I'm an alcoholic." Father Martin first
uttered this statement in 1958, when he was in treatment for
alcoholism at the Guest House, what would prove to be a refuge for
him from his drinking and a turning point in his life. His
personal journey in recovery prompted a celebrated career in which
his only aim was to ease the suffering of individuals and
families, around the world, affected by addiction.
He was
born on October 12, 1924 in Baltimore, Maryland . He quickly
developed a fondness for religion and faith. People fondly recall
his special story-telling ability and wonderful sense of humor. In
1942, Father Martin graduated from Loyola College and entered
St. Mary's seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1948 and underwent
rigorous training to become a Sulpician, a highly regarded teaching
society within the Catholic Church. After losing this coveted
distinction as a result of his drinking, only in sobriety did he
regain this title.
Father Martin taught minor seminarians and
fulfilled several teaching roles within the church. It was very
evident that he possessed a special ability to educate but his
drinking became very troublesome and he was eventually directed
to seek help at the Guest House. Father Martin frequently cited the
tremendous impact his mentor Austin Ripley had on his journey in
recovery. Many of Father Martin's teachings originated in concepts
he learned while at the Guest House. His enthusiasm for sobriety
coupled with his passion for teaching evolved into an unending
quest to ease the suffering of individuals and families affected
by addiction. In his career, spanning more than 35 years, Father
Martin was catapulted into international acclaim as a prized
speaker and educator on addiction and recovery thru the Twelve
Steps. He founded Kelly Productions in 1972 and used it as a
platform to capture the minds and hearts of millions of people.
Father Martin's message is no less relevant today than in 1972.
He will continue to inspire love, service, helpfulness to others,
and recovery through the use of his films, audio lectures, and
books. In his last year, he shared his vision that he can be
remembered so that the still suffering individual affected by
addiction might benefit from his God-inspired message of hope.
VIEWING: Thursday, March 12th, 2009 From 1p-9p St. Mary's
Seminary Laubacher Hall 5400 Roland Avenue Baltimore, MD
21210
FUNERAL MASS: Friday, March 13th, 2009 10 am The
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary 409 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201