[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 45 (Monday, March 16, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN MEMORY OF REV. JOSEPH C. MARTIN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 16, 2009

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Rev. Joseph C. 
Martin, a son of Maryland who devoted his life to helping tens of 
thousands of alcoholics overcome their addiction--an addiction he 
overcame himself. Father Martin drank heavily for more than a decade 
until, with the help of a treatment center for the clergy, he recovered 
his sobriety. Drawing on his personal struggle, Father Martin developed 
his famous ``Chalk Talk on Alcohol,'' a common-sense lecture on 
addiction that remains in heavy use to this day, from the U.S. Armed 
Forces to substance-abuse programs around the world.
  Along with his hard-won lessons on sobriety, his most lasting legacy 
is Father Martin's Ashley, a treatment center overlooking the 
Chesapeake Bay in Harford County, Maryland. Father Martin's Ashley has 
kept its doors open for more than three decades and, with the guidance 
and leadership of its co-founder, has served more than 30,000 people. A 
giving, loving man who exemplified the best tenets of his faith and of 
the sobriety movement, Father Martin never turned away a potential 
patient who was short on funds. His example and his wise counsel 
enabled recovering alcoholics around the world to reclaim control of 
their lives.
  Michael Deaver, who served as chief of staff to President Reagan and 
received treatment at Father Martin's Ashley, said: ``I had been with 
presidents, kings, popes, and prime ministers, but Father Martin was 
the most powerful person I had ever met. You see, Father has the power 
to change people, to make them better, to make them whole again.''
  Though Father Martin is gone, I am sure that his legacy, his 
teaching, and his example will have that same power for years to come.

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