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Ridgerunner
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The rosary kind of gets your brain into a different, quiet mode. I don’t see how one would avoid falling asleep saying it if he was drunk.
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Welshrabbit
Guest
For sure. It would also be kinda tough to remember the mysteries and the order of prayers…
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ColoradoCatholic
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This to me is the exact issue im talking about. When we (as a Catholic church) say drunk what do we mean? The secular version? or the ability to reason and think…two very different things.
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Welshrabbit
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I enjoy having a drink or two or three so I’m gonna go with the latter. 
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mary77
Guest
anyone can become an alcoholic if they drink often enough . Fulton Sheen wrote great imformation about it about getting into bad habits and then how to back out of them the same way you went in. Is it christlike to do anything that is harmful to our body?
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c4csp
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When you start to feel the effects of alcohol it is time to stop. Alcohol is a gift from God and he encourages us to take pleasure in it, just do not abuse it.
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ColoradoCatholic
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Who said anything about being an alcoholic? Yes being one is a problem but that is not the issue, and drinking is not deemed as wrong in any way by our faith! Excess use is certainly wrong with anything.
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mary77
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if someone drinks so much they get a hangover, its too much. Thats the kind of drinking that becomes an addiction to the body. I personally dont see why anyone drinks alcohol except that they want to feel the alcohol change the way they feel. Do we have to risk in order to feel good? Is that an intelligent choice?
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MNathaniel
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To me I’ve heard the standard set at whatever point (for the individual) alcohol impairs function. Whether this is our ability to reason well, or our ability to walk well. Alcohol is a gift that gladdens the heart when consumed in moderation; but healthy bodily and mental function is also a gift, and God’s gifts are not meant to be used in a way where one damages the other. They’re meant to be ordered complementarily.
So if we start to stumble over our own feet, lose our ability to focus our eyes or focus our minds and reason well… we’ve crossed the line into ‘drunkenness’. If we got there by accident, it’s a venial sin. If we got there on purpose, it’s mortal. And if we’re tempted to flirt with that line or push the boundary to see just how far we can go… that seems like a sign to me, that we’ve got a different underlying problem we need to let God help us with. (Like a fear of connecting with people sober? Despair leading to a desire for escapism? Possible alcohol addiction in the making?)
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MNathaniel
Guest
PS to quote a priest from CA:
www.catholic.com
It is important to remember that even if gravely wrong actions (fornication, violence, etc.) performed while intoxicated were not freely willed in themselves, they were willed in their cause—namely, deliberate drunkeness—and so the drinker is responsible for them as though he had chosen them deliberately.
There are other aspects of drinking that may be sinful; for example, its impact on the health of the body. For neglect of bodily health due to drinking there has to be a grave physical danger to which the drinker is knowingly exposing himself.
Further, there are the requirements of civil law. The blood alcohol limit established by law is much lower than actual gravely sinful intoxication, but it is the point at which some reflexes may be so impaired as to make driving unsafe. Ignoring these laws can easily be grave matter also, even if the driver is not strictly speaking drunk.
When Is Drinking a Mortal Sin?
Drinking is not inherently evil, but once someone reaches a certain level of intoxication, they may have abused alcohol to the point of mortal sin.
Question:
When is drinking alcohol a mortal sin?Answer:
Abusing intoxicating drink is a grave sin if it deprives the drinker of the use of reason. This means that the drinker no longer has the freedom necessary to deliberate responsibly about what he should do or not do. Of course, in order to be a grave sin the excessive drinking has to be deliberate, not simply a surprise based on lack of foresight. In this latter case the intoxication would be a venial sin.It is important to remember that even if gravely wrong actions (fornication, violence, etc.) performed while intoxicated were not freely willed in themselves, they were willed in their cause—namely, deliberate drunkeness—and so the drinker is responsible for them as though he had chosen them deliberately.
There are other aspects of drinking that may be sinful; for example, its impact on the health of the body. For neglect of bodily health due to drinking there has to be a grave physical danger to which the drinker is knowingly exposing himself.
Further, there are the requirements of civil law. The blood alcohol limit established by law is much lower than actual gravely sinful intoxication, but it is the point at which some reflexes may be so impaired as to make driving unsafe. Ignoring these laws can easily be grave matter also, even if the driver is not strictly speaking drunk.
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ColoradoCatholic
Guest
super helpful thank you.
This is what I was looking for, as I already stated I had no intentions to drive, nor would I even if I had the means and no ride home or coordinated return plans. Unfortunately, the description in the Catechism is much more vague than even this statement.
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DaveBj
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It occurred to me that it might not be a bad idea to pass on some information an alcohol training video that I was mandated to sit thru back in 1978. The speaker happened to be a recovering alcoholic who was also a Catholic priest. Just a few points, as I remember them.
That’s all I can remember, but it should be enough.
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- Alcohol, if it had just been discovered, would be categorized as a Class-IV narcotic (I believe that’s what he said), and the only way one could get it would be by prescription.
- Alcohol is a poison; the root of “intoxicated” is “toxic,” the same word that is used in the phrase “toxic waste.”
- Alcohol produces the sensation of “getting high” or “getting drunk” by setting up a condition in the blood that prevents the brain from getting oxygen. (Me speaking here, not the Father – you can get the exact same sensation by removing your oxygen mask in an altitude chamber. I’ve done that during flight training in the Air Force, under controlled conditions, and I can testify that the feeling is the same.)
- When there is a shortage of oxygen going to the brain, brain cells die. Every time someone drinks enough to get high or drunk,
he is killing brain cells.
That’s all I can remember, but it should be enough.
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ColoradoCatholic
Guest
See this just simply is not Church teaching:
Alcohol is not “bad,” believing this is similar to the puritans who are also wrong about the physical world and its pleasures being bad for us. I’m not a theology major or anything but I think this is partially heretical and…simply not true, or God wouldn’t have made it. Either in miracle form or just the mere fact that it exists naturally through fermentation.
As others have stated moderation according to each of our individual needs seems to be the most accurate and least radical in viewpoint. Yes too much is not good, and outright condemning it is equally bad. How do you think people survived back in the day? They drank wine more than water because it was healthier.
and this,
based on what? the 1920s?
Alcohol is not “bad,” believing this is similar to the puritans who are also wrong about the physical world and its pleasures being bad for us. I’m not a theology major or anything but I think this is partially heretical and…simply not true, or God wouldn’t have made it. Either in miracle form or just the mere fact that it exists naturally through fermentation.
As others have stated moderation according to each of our individual needs seems to be the most accurate and least radical in viewpoint. Yes too much is not good, and outright condemning it is equally bad. How do you think people survived back in the day? They drank wine more than water because it was healthier.
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twf
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It’s my understanding that it’s only a grave sin when we drink to the point that we can no longer clearly discern right from wrong. Feeling the effects of alcohol will start long before that point. At some point along that spectrum you would be in venial sin territory. Enjoying drinks is certainly not wrong - and you will “feel” it - after all, Scripture says that God made wine to “gladden” our hearts…
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ThomasMT
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When Is Drinking a Mortal Sin?
Drinking is not inherently evil, but once someone reaches a certain level of intoxication, they may have abused alcohol to the point of mortal sin.
“Abusing intoxicating drink is a grave sin if it deprives the drinker of the use of reason. This means that the drinker no longer has the freedom necessary to deliberate responsibly about what he should do or not do.”
It does not take much to compromise the use of reason. Even if you were lucky enough to not have suffered any consequences, you were still in a vulnerable state that could have put you in near occassion of sin.
I myself have been struggling with this issue lately, and wondering about that fine line as well. Safest bet is to simply limit oneself to one drink. Bottom line, if I were to fall into a drunken state I would not want to die before making confession.
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StJosephPrayForUs
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Holding that alcohol is bad for the human body is separate from whether or not it is allowed to be consumed. The Church explicitly allows the consumption of unhealthy food products in moderation, and makes no claims about whether or not it is immoral due to that. For instance it is not a sin to eat processed meat, cookies, soda, etc, in moderation. All of those things deteriorate the body. Alcohol even a single glass a day is “bad” for the health yet still allowed. Someone is healthier not drinking any at all, just like someone is healthier never putting soda to their lips, but it is not gravely evil. It can even be thought of as poisonous, etc. Health and safety and food wellness is generally outside of the expertise of the magisterium.
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ThomasMT
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TheLittleLady
Guest
This is your personal opinion. The Church has not declared that feeling the effects of alcohol in and of itself is sinful.
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c4csp
Guest
No, but it is good advice because if you keep drinking, you are probably close to being intoxicated. God knows all so we shouldn’t be concerned about fooling others or the church. If one is seeking to push the limits of sin out of seeking some sort of pleasure(getting a buzz or drunk) then one is seeking more than God has given which is a sin. Really though, a love for Christ makes us want to stay far away from occasion of sin, not get real close to the line. So it is more a point of growing one’s relationship with Christ so one will not seek out parties where the likelihood of sin is, rather the person seeks out opportunities to do God’s will.
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ColoradoCatholic
Guest
The original context is to have fun with your friends in a friendly atmosphere. I don’t think that is a sin.
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