What is Catholic Church position regarding alcohol?

Upvote:1

There is an entertaining article here. I can't resist quoting a few paragraphs.

One need only cite the Eucharist as a sed contra to the alleged iniquity of alcohol. Consider the following statement: "For the Blessed Sacrament, in which he gives us not only his grace but his very self, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, chose as its matter a Group 1 carcinogen of untrammeled malevolence." Does that not sound a bit strange?

Nor should we waffle on the fact that wine is by its very nature a form of alcohol. St. Thomas Aquinas goes so far as to suggest that wine was chosen for the Eucharist not despite its alcoholic content but in part because of it. Aquinas reasons that just as bread is good for the body (gluten detractors notwithstanding), wine is good for the soul insofar as it “cheers the heart of man” (Summa Theologiae III.74.1). And wine produces that cheer, we hasten to add, by the C2H5OH contained therein.

Even within the New Testament we find "dry" saints like John the Baptist, who abstained in anticipation of the Messiah, and “wet” saints like Paul, who recommended wine for one’s health (see 1 Tim. 5:23).

Upvote:10

The Catechism has alcohol in its index.

  1. The virtue of temperance desposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others' safety on the road, at sea or in the air.

Online at vatican.va [Quoted from the print edition, emphasis in the original]

Temperance is a virtue. Temperance does not mean abstinence. Alcohol has been around since the time of Noah and has long been enjoyed; but one should avoid following Noah’s example. [Genesis 9:21]

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