There is a famous couplet by the Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc: “Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, / There’s always laughter and good red wine.”
While alcohol is certainly a core component of human life, and even rises to the level of the most Blessed Sacrament, it’s important to put these lines in historical context. Belloc grew up in the prudishness of Victorian Great Britain and later traveled throughout Prohibition-era America. It was a time when Protestant radicals, especially in colder climates, cast great suspicion on alcohol. Warmer, more Catholic, countries looked with humorous disdain at these teetotaling brethren. For an excellent illustration of these attitudes, read the short story “Babette’s Feast” by Isak Dinesen or watch the movie adaptation.
In the 21st century, however, one often hears quotes like these in a Catholic context, the implication being that a cautious attitude toward drinking is a revolt against Catholic life. Some Catholic colleges even have the reputation of being “party schools.”
Consider the culture
In fact, however, moderation and asceticism are more properly Catholic dispositions than the use of any one particular thing. In more prudish cultures, climes and times, a healthy Catholic moderation might mean consuming more alcohol than the socially acceptable average. But I very much doubt that this is the case in 21st-century America.
While there are some indications that alcohol consumption is decreasing among millennials and members of Gen Z, college life and leisure activities are often still characterized by excessive drinking. This organization of culture around alcohol, along with America’s strange schizophrenia about drinking — vacillating between anxiety (a higher drinking age than the rest of the Western world, our history of Prohibition) and gluttony (frat culture, high school sneaking, lake life, etc.) — makes the need for Catholics to witness to moderation even more acute. We can’t just make alcohol the center of an event and, citing Belloc, call it Catholic. Culture is centered around an activity that 1) glorifies God and 2) brings people together in an authentic way.
A true Catholic witness
I don’t think it will shock anyone if I said that the vast majority of sexual sins, especially among young people, are rooted in a bacchanalian weekend culture of going to parties, getting drunk and fornicating in one way or another. Some people might say, “This is just going to happen.” But even if that is true, calling it Catholic because Catholics drink alcohol is ridiculous.
It may well be that, more often than not, our primary Catholic witness will be in not drinking, or stopping after one drink, at social occasions. The witness of a tipsy Catholic simply reaffirms a permissive booze culture and sets others’ consciences at ease. Joy in life and an integrated, healthy ability to cope make a much more authentic culture of leisure, fun and relaxation than do indulgence and regret.
Today, wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, may moderation and joy be thine!
