The Recovery for Christ social network for Catholics recovering from alcoholism and addictions will be shutting down as of July 19th, when the domain name registration expires.

I am sorry for any inconvenience, but my heart was no longer in it. And whatever assistance I had at times was about as enthusiastic as I was! I am by no means complaining, I take most of the blame as I didn’t work as hard at it as I could have or should have.

It was the right thing, perhaps gone about the wrong way. Maybe by the wrong person (me). At least I met several fine people with whom I will continue online relationships. But Recovery for Christ will be dead in just over a week. The Holy Spirit knows what’s best and inspires people to do God’s will. If things are of God, they endure, if they are purely human, they fail.

A social network is only as good as the willingness of people in the network to socialize. An online community of lurkers is not a community.

There would be the occasional burst of activity, and then a roaring silence. I would log in after some period of inactivity, only to find that someone had been on a few days before, begging for help. There was no one, myself included, around to hear that voice screaming into the night, asking for help. There was another time when I was on and a woman had engaged me in a chat and told me about her rape. It caused a relapse. I had emailed several female members hoping to enlist their aid, but none ever showed up over the next few days. I assisted her as best I could. I had hoped that she’d get better help from female members, but nothing came.

For a while there were attempts to organize online chat meetings, staggered about the week to accommodate people. They never came to fruition, beyond the 1-3 at most usually in attendance.

This all gradually sucked enthusiasm.

I had many plans, but never got around to implementing them. This is why I take the most blame.

I may revive it someday, but I will try and go about it in a different way. I will perhaps attempt to solicit support in the blogosphere instead of going it alone. I’m thinking that through blogging and such, myself and others can develop a possible interest, and then recruit people who will develop/run/admin/patrol/moderate from the start. Maybe in that manner it will gain the Lord’s blessing and grow and endure. If that does not happen, then perhaps there isn’t a need for an online community like a social network for Catholics in recovery.

I have always wondered why there wasn’t anything like the network, why there are far more non-denominational forums and networks and practically no Catholic ones. And the Catholic Church is the Church with the sacraments of healing. Perhaps therein lies the answer.  With the Eucharist and Confession, perhaps Catholics have no real need for an ongoing Catholic-focused recovery program. This can be discussed in any future revival.

But now I just do not have the time. Between my regular day job, this blog and other projects, I cannot give this project the time it needs.

Anyway, as I said, the network might rise again, when I and others can do it properly. I don’t want it to be “my” site, there would be no point. History will just repeat itself if the network started up again as an individual effort. I would prefer to be just one of several admins, part of a group effort.

I should have all 290ish email addresses from the members, so if/when a successor is a go, there’s a potential member list and people will be contacted. If you wish to be on the mailing list, email me. The email addresses for me are along the sidebar.

This blog will live on. Only Recovery for Christ is closing.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)