MAYNOOTH - 4 February 2008 - 310 words
Ireland:
Bishop Walsh encourages students to give up alcohol for Lent
In preparation for Lent, which starts this Wednesday, Bishop
Éamonn Walsh launched a new letter from the Irish Bishops'
calling for responsible attitudes to alcohol on Friday. 150 students
and teachers from Tallaght Community College, Our Lady's College
Greenhills Drogheda and Holy Family Secondary School Saggart,
Co Dublin attended the event. Last year the Irish bishops issued
their first letter and a DVD: Find the Balance: Dare to Dream
which has been has been distributed to 875 post-primary schools.
From today this DVD is available on-line via www.catholic
communications.ie
During Friday's launch, Bishop Walsh said he wanted to hear the
reactions of some of the young people to the DVD. He said: "As
we approach the beginning of Lent, may I put a challenge to all
of us to go teetotal or cut down by one third in personal use
of alcohol during Lent. Having reduced our alcohol intake
by a third, I would be interested to hear how people found this
fast and if they succeeded or failed. Any feedback on personal
or group experiences would be most welcome and can be forwarded
to the Irish Bishops Drugs' Initiative at ibdiinfo@gmail.com or
IBDI, Clonliffe College, Clonliffe Road, Dublin."
Bishop Walsh continued: "As well as taking personal responsibility
to reduce alcohol consumption in our own lives, I believe that
at a macro level something should also be done to radically shift
alcohol away from the mainstream cultural position that it currently
occupies in Irish society. A good starting point would be
to break, once and for all, the link between sport and advertising
alcohol. We need to do it with the same vigour and determination
as the effort to remove advertising for tobacco from sports.
The stakes are high. The quality of life of whole families
and communities is what is at risk."
© Independent Catholic News 2008
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