One Drunk to Another Some Bum from St. Louis
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Illustration · An imagined corridor outside an office like his at The Queen’s Work in the 1950s: a lit door standing open, a bench for the people who came to see him, and a black hat and a cane on the coat stand. Not drawn from a photograph.

Some Bum from St. Louis

Meet Father Ed

A catcher, a newsman and a Jesuit with a cane, who climbed the stairs of AA’s clubhouse one night in 1940 and became Bill W.’s spiritual sponsor.

“I can happily report that one of these clergymen has turned out to be the greatest friend, teacher, and adviser that I ever expect to have.”

Bill W., “The Clergy,” September 1957 · The Language of the Heart, 1988

Edward Dowling was born in St. Louis in 1898 and grew up in Baden, on the city’s north side. The boys called him Puggy. He played catcher well enough to try out for two big-league clubs, worked as a newspaper reporter, and in 1919 entered the Jesuits.

In his seminary years a crippling arthritis came on, and in time he walked with a cane. From 1932 he worked at The Queen’s Work, the magazine of the Sodality of Our Lady, which the Jesuits published in St. Louis, and he never stopped traveling.

In 1940 he found Alcoholics Anonymous, helped start its first group in St. Louis, and late one night climbed the stairs of AA’s clubhouse in New York to meet Bill W. For twenty years Bill brought him his troubles, and Pass It On calls him Bill’s spiritual sponsor. He took the Twelve Steps to married couples and to anyone else who would use them, and he died in Memphis in 1960, on one more trip to talk to couples.

This is his story in seven parts and a Legacy. It’s built from Glenn C.’s draft biography, AA’s own histories, and the work of Robert Fitzgerald and Dawn Eden Goldstein; where they disagree, these pages say so.

Start with 1 · Two tryouts

His life at a glance

  1. 1898Born September 1 in St. Louis. He grows up in Baden, on the city’s north side.
  2. 1916Tries out as a catcher with the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Browns.
  3. 1918Goes into the Army two weeks before the war ends.
  4. 1919Enters the Jesuit novitiate at Florissant, outside St. Louis.
  5. 1931Ordained a priest in St. Louis on June 25.
  6. 1932Joins the staff of The Queen’s Work, the Sodality’s magazine.
  7. 1940Finds AA, helps start the St. Louis group, and in November meets Bill W. in New York.
  8. 1942Starts the Cana Conferences for married couples, by AA’s newsletter’s account.
  9. 1947Answers Bill’s letters through his Catholic lessons with Monsignor Sheen.
  10. 1952A stroke in his eye makes it hard to read while Bill is writing the Twelve and Twelve.
  11. 1953Sets the Twelve Steps beside the Spiritual Exercises for a conference of priests.
  12. 1955Speaks at AA’s twentieth-anniversary convention in St. Louis.
  13. 1956Leads a campaign to mark Dred Scott’s grave in Calvary Cemetery.
  14. 1960Dies in his sleep in Memphis on April 3, at 61.

Walk through his story

Each part has a short story, a one-minute audio stop, and a closer look for anyone who wants to go deeper. Read them in order, or start anywhere.

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