Boys Town, AA, Grow and Fr Tom

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
23 May 2004

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Boys Town, AA, Grow and Fr Tom

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Boys Town, AA, Grow and Fr Tom

BOYS TOWN: Fr Tom Dunlea

Fr Tom Dunlea, the priest who set up Australia's first Boys Town and introduced Alcoholics Anonymous here, is celebrated in a book to be launched this week by former Governor-General Sir William Deane.

A Welcome On The Mat, written as a memoir by Fr John McSweeney PE, will be launched in the crypt of St Mary's Cathedral at 2pm on Friday, May 28.

Fr Tom sought to deal with the problem of disadvantaged young people during the Great Depression and the upheaval of World War II by turning his presbytery into the first Boys Town in Australia – at Engadine.

His concern for family break-ups and subsequent homelessness among men, often caused by alcoholism, led him and two colleagues to introduce Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which was proving effective in the US.

In his long campaign to help people overcome addiction to drink, he himself became addicted and, although AA had become part of his life, his rehabilitation wasn't brought about by AA but by the skill and patience of a good woman in the country.

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