I am new here, so please bear with my long post.

First let me say that I am a recovering alcoholic of 25 years and have been sober now for 6. My Catholic faith is the key to my continued sobriety and it is only by the grace of God that keeps me sober, no matter how tempted I get to take a drink. I attend no AA meetings, but do have a personal counselor who is also Catholic. The Church offers many programs as well, but I maintain strictly through prayer, the Holy Sacrifice of The Mass and the reception of the Holy Eucharist as much as I am able. This is a testimony that has helped to inspire others where they feel there is no hope. When a person seeks and finds sound direction, the journey becomes much more orderly, but never easy--there are still some days that are very uncomfortable, but at least my ship is sound when the squall does happen. One cannot know where they are unless they have a valid map and remember where they have been and are aware of where they are going. Order and discipline are required in this. This is the formula for success.

As a practical and very conservative thinking Catholic, I am obliged to help anyone who is seeking the truth and can never practice indifference or compromise truth, nor will I practice any form of condoning others in their alcoholism and accept the many "excuses" that I myself used countless numbers of times in my struggle. Unfortunate for many, my techniques of absolute truth can often seem too harsh or "cut and dried" to the point that it disturbs others. I cannot and will not offer any apology for promoting truth, as this would place me in a situation of possibly being guilty of the sin of omission, or indifference. Some individuals find it rather intense and overtly sober, preachy or confined and sometime very "confidently arrogant", or what you will, but still it is the absolute truth, of which must never be compromised with the many confusing pseudo-truths abundant in the world today.

As a Catholic, I am obliged to evangelize the truths of Christ as can only be found in the Catholic Church, but these truths can be rather intense with others ( as they may subscribe to a number of errors already) since there is only one truth to be considered in the consideration of the 4 last things we all must face: Death, Purgatory, Heaven or Hell. These are serious matters of the most intense level, as once one is dead there is no more chance to obtain grace. One needs to tend to these things now, which is a wisdom in and of itself. Either one accepts truth or not, which can often make for a difficult time, but one that is absolutely necessary. Philosophical debates on what is "truth" do not save a person's soul. Only the applied conscientious effort, along with the grace of God and the holy sacraments of the Church can do this quite well enough. Still there is no guarantee, and this is what keeps the valiant and militant Christian Catholic on their toes at all times.

My present situation is with my twin brother. His drinking is causing great stress with my mother and myself and he often become extremely verbally abusive, devoid of absolute reason and many times loses physical functionality (he live alone). We are 46 years of age. As I grew up with him, I can understand why he is like he is, but as there is obvious lack of emotional maturity, proper spiritual development and an extreme lack of respect for authority, this makes the task of attempting to help him (even in a non-spiritual manner) seem literally impossible. He has a serious issue with dying, God's will, why people get sick, the Catholic Church and accepting any sound advice. His mind is so clouded, that even in his "sober" times, he seems backwards and confused, especially in public situations. He has had serious health issues, but ignores them as there are no symptoms presently. He lives by the supreme Satanic maxim: "I am going to do what I want!"

He seems to be very unaware of the incredible blasphemy he commits, let alone the things he says to others when he is drinking. He refuses to talk about it when he has sober times. The hate factor is so extreme (especially for all thing holy or sacred) that I often come away extremely disturbed after dealing with him. I realize God hears my prayers, yet nothing has improved it has only become worse. Perhaps I am unable to see the mystery involved here, which I have very often considered as being the very issue itself. At any rate, my brother's soul is in incredible danger at this point. If it were not so, than everything that the Church teaches is pointless and futile, yet my faith says otherwise that it will all work out for the good no matter how bad it may get. We can never know the mind of God, nor the workings of His Divine Mercy. Considering the state of his soul right now, concerns me more than anything else, but one cannot attend to it properly unless they are in realization of certain fundamental truths about themselves first. He is aware of this and this is where the greatest danger lies.

Even though I attempt to deal with the situation with absolute truth, and understanding of what he is experiencing, I do realize many things must work together in order for him to change. The primary factor that he must want to change above all else is the key to getting the rest of the process going. Prayer is my only aid that I can seem to offer with any real effective value. I am an extremely adamant person, but I feel that my only option at this point is to just let go and let God deal with him. If this is what must be done now, I am confident of the knowledge that at least I did attempt to help him many times, but must understand that there is a limit to what I can do. A lawyer cannot win every case, nor doctor cure every illness and I would be deceiving myself if I believe that I can help everyone I meet. I pray that I will not have to shake the dust off of my shoes, but this may have to be the case. This seems the most difficult of all things that I may have to do, as it is a soul that is at stake here, no withstanding that it is even my own brother's or anyone else.

This post only covers a very small portion of the situation, as I am sure we all have situations that would fill a volume. I believe the general idea is presented here clearly both concerning my authority and position on certain matters and the condition of my beloved brother. I feel perhaps I really am not presenting anything new here.

I am always learning something new, and have a great level of experience with alcoholism both in my own person and of many, many others. Each case tends to require a different approach, but must have one central ideal that has always been successful. Perhaps the tough love method and the unbridled presentation of what is truth does not work for everyone, so if anyone may have some sound advice, or could refer some good Catholic literary resources that I may not be aware of, it would be a great help. Please avoid giving me any "self-help" literature, as I do not approve of the "religiously watered down" content usually found in them. We live in an extremely dumbed-down society today that too often confuses proper learning and research with digested and useless information. He owns a copy of the AA book (which works for some individuals, but not all) but does not know where it is. He also owns a Bible that seems just as "misplaced somewhere" as the AA book is........Thank you for your understanding.

As there is no substitute for the truth, it is often the most disturbing reality, even sometimes more so than the addiction itself, that any thinking and supposedly rational human being would reject it, even as it is proven countless number of times to them. Some individuals will always say green is red, and this I fully understand as to why. Once one truly contemplates the length of eternity, it soon becomes abundantly clear as to what that individual needs to do. Understanding the concept, given the proper direction from the Church, seems to be what works for me (and many others) in order to keep them on the straight and narrow.

God Bless you.