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Joseph Martin was born on October 12, 1924 in Baltimore, Maryland. There, he grew up and attended Catholic schools. In 1944, after university, he went to the seminary and, in 1948, was ordained as a Sulpician priest, a priest dedicated to the education of seminarians. His first assignment was to teach in a preparatory seminary in the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California. He taught there eight years and was then sent to St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland where he taught from 1956 to 1959.
During his time in Catonsville, Fr. Joe’s alcohol consumption became more and more out of control, and his behavior became erratic. He tried to control his drinking, but he found he could not do this alone.
Finally, his superiors sent him to a special alcohol treatment center for clergy called Guest House in Lake Orion, Michigan. On his first day there, Fr. Joe met the founder of Guest House, Austin Ripley. He also met Dr. Walter Green, another recovering alcoholic who gave regular lectures on the disease concept of alcoholism and recovery. Austin Ripley founded Guest House after he had read an article about Alcoholics Anonymous in a magazine.
At Guest House, Fr. Joe began his journey into recovery. He readily adopted the 12-Step spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous, often considered the most extraordinary spiritual advancement of the Twentieth Century. Fr. Joe especially loved the lectures of Dr. Green, and he studiously wrote down the ideas of this man.
After achieving sobriety, Fr. Joe began spreading the message of alcoholic recovery in what became known as his famous “Chalk Talks.” Eventually, Fr. Joe co-founded a treatment center with Mae Abraham called the Ashley Treatment Center in Maryland.
In his many years devoted to spreading the good news of alcoholic recovery, Fr. Joe made many films and wrote books in the field. Tens of thousands of people attribute Fr. Joe’s works, in part, to their own recovery.
Fr. Joe’s works have been used throughout the world including most branches of the United States Government and the Vatican.
Fr. Joe was what the late spiritual writer, Fr. Henri Nouwen, called a “wounded healer.” A “wounded healer” is a person who is highly sensitive, compassionate, and competent because he or she knows what the suffering person is going through, because they share the same condition.
Fr. Joe died on March 9, 2009.
