Jason Redmond / Star staff Karyn Walsh of Moorpark talks with her instructor Bill Shilley at Oxnard College recently. "One in four families have addiction problems, and most aren't getting any help," he said.

"In a sense, this is sort of my parish," Bill Shilley said. For the past 27 years, the former priest has worked in the Addictive Disorders Studies department at Oxnard College.

Bill Shilley left the priesthood years ago but soon took on another flock: alcoholics and drug addicts.

For the past 27 years, Shilley has worked in the Addictive Disorders Studies Department at Oxnard College, teaching classes and nurturing students, most of them recovering addicts themselves or people related to addicts.

Now, at 79, he's retiring as chairman of the department, though he plans to keep teaching part time.

"In a sense, this is sort of my parish," he said.

When Shilley started at Oxnard College in 1981, his department listed 15 courses in the catalogue, but none had ever been taught before. Over the years, he developed one class, then another, so that now the department has eight part-time instructors, 25 courses and about 325 students a semester.

Along the way, Shilley has changed lives, said Lindsay Ross, 23, one of his students.

"He's not even an addict, and he's able to get on our level and relate to us," said Ross, 23, who lives in Oak Park and came to Oxnard College specifically for the addictive disorders program. "I did not walk into his class the same person that I am (now)."

Ross' is not the only life Shilley has changed, said George Rosch, his friend and colleague.

"He's really moved an army of people to fight the war against drugs and alcohol," Rosch said. "His history goes back decades."

Before being ordained as a priest, Shilley trained as a marriage and family counselor. In that role, he came across alcoholics and addicts but struggled to help them.

Back then, Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon were in their infancy, and he attended meetings so he could learn about the disease.

Today, people still struggle to understand addiction, he said.

"One in four families have addiction problems, and most aren't getting any help," he said. "We need to get people to accept the fact that it's a brain disease. It's a disease like any other, and we mistreat people who have it."

After leaving the priesthood and marrying, Shilley went to work for what was then Ventura County's department of alcohol services. He started teaching part time at Oxnard College in 1981 and was hired full time in 1989.

In his retirement, Shilley, who is now divorced, plans to continue traveling the world. It's a passion he developed as a child, following newspaper stories and maps of American troops fighting in World War II.

"I was really a child of that war," he said. "Those places where American soldiers landed, I followed every step."

Since then, Shilley has traveled extensively in Europe as well as to Australia, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Russia, among other places.

This summer he'll go to Madrid, then on to Vienna. When she's old enough, he plans to travel with his granddaughter.

He'll keep taking piano lessons.

And he'll get back into the classroom: "I don't intend to ever stop teaching," he said. "It's just too much fun."