A Friend of Bill's

Francis D. Daley was a high school dropout, a newspaper reporter, a Phi Beta Kappa college student, an Episcopalian Priest, an ecclesiastic builder, a charming and likeable guy, my father and an alcoholic. It was his alcoholism that defined much of his life. It also defined his ministry. Alcoholics Anonymous played a major role in his recovery and in his ministry to those similarly afflicted. When my father entered the priesthood, he expected that he would eventually enter the leadership hierarchy of the Episcopal Church. While his expectations were not unreasonable, they were short-circuited by his alcoholism. His recovery from alcoholism gave him the insight to really help other alcoholics. His recovery allowed him to achieve serenity. His biography is the story of his alcoholism, his recovery, and the serenity that he achieved. If there is anything to be learned from my father's life, it is that the world is a funny place. That you can achieve a state of serenity if you seek God's help and if you face the world with a sense of humor.