Ralph S. Pfau

In 1948 he founded the National Clergy Conference on Alcoholism, an organization devoted to the problems of priests, and directed it for many years. Its publications, especially "Alcoholism Source Book for Priests," and the annual "Blue Book," made a deep impact on the American Catholic Hierarchy.

His retreats were attended by thousands of Catholics and by many more thousands who were not Catholics. His retreat talks were eventually published in a series of 14 Golden Books. They were so named because when he held the second annual retreat in June 1947, at the request of some of the people who had attended the first retreat his talks were printed in a fifty-six page booklet with a gold cover, and distributed as a souvenir, through the generosity of the owner of the archdiocesan newspaper in Indianapolis. People began requesting copies of "the golden book of your retreat."

He took his first drink about a year after his ordination. By 1943 he was sufficiently worried about his drinking to investigate A.A. He experienced nervous breakdowns and spent time in sanitariums. He was twice relieved of his parish.

On June 29, 1942 Pfau was appointed pastor of St. Ann's of Indianapolis by Bishop Ritter. Pfau remained in service at St. Ann's until June 14, 1943.

Father Ralph S. Pfau, also known as Father John Doe (10 November 1904 - 19 February 1967) was the author of Sobriety Without End, Sobriety and Beyond and the Golden Book series. He is believed to have been the first Roman Catholic priest to enter Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

Pfau was born on November 10, 1904, the youngest of five brothers. A sixth brother had died before he was born. His father, who was of French and German descent, died when Pfau was four. Pfau was raised by his mother, who came from an Indiana German family.