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."
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