page_title: Edward Dowling (priest)
section_title: Alcoholics Anonymous
hierarchical_section_title: Edward Dowling (priest) / Alcoholics Anonymous
caption_attribution_description: English: A portrait of Father Edward Dowling, a Jesuit priest and spiritual adviser of Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
context_page_description: Father Edward Dowling, also known as Father Ed, was a Jesuit priest and spiritual advisor to Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
context_section_description: During the early years of Alcoholics Anonymous, a friend of Dowling's from Chicago developed a drinking problem after losing his wife, and in 1940, Dowling took him to an AA meeting. There, he noticed the similarities between the program's twelve-step program and the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Dowling then met with AA co-founder Bill W. by arriving at his door unannounced late in the evening. Following this introduction, Bill and Father Dowling (or Father Ed, as he was known within the community) became close friends, and Dowling served as Bill's spiritual advisor. He continued directing struggling alcoholics to the organization, and by the summer of 1940, with his help, Dowling's native St. Louis had its own AA chapter. Dowling was not an alcoholic himself, but used the twelve-step program to get over his own problems of overeating and smoking.
caption: Father Ed Dowling circa 1940
exif: {}