When it comes to personal conduct like drinking or eating meat, you will never convince me that something is immoral if Christ did it. Drunkenness or gluttony are something else. I am a teetotaler but some Protestant sects go bonkers when the subject of drink comes up, going so far as to claim that Christ at Cana turned the water into grape juice rather than wine. Belloc spoke the truth:
“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!”
Padre Pio, with the stigmata, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, one small glass of beer everyday in the evening.
“Prove me wrong!”
As long as it’s not Bud Light
If it’s appropriate for religious to make and sell alchohol (trappist beer comes to mind in particular) they had better know what they are making and therefore should drink it too IMO.
It’s an important note about Cana that the stewards commented that Jesus’ wine was the good stuff, if you will.
I also have to imagine, especially in that era, it would have been bad form for a guest to not partake, and this was clearly a public event therefore Jesus should have been partaking to some extent.
Long story short; I would question a priest who doesn’t appreciate a reasonable drink or two from time to time.
For John [the Baptist] came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
Matthew 11:18-19
Priests should not use street drugs, should not be intoxicated, and should not be knocking about in mufti outside the rectory. A priest with a BMI over 40 is telling you his appetite is an issue.
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See Fr. Paul Shaugnessy, SJ on this point. Look around the rectory and if you see a full liquor cabinet and slick magazines, you can wager the priest’s life of chastity is in disorder.
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After a longtime priest in Syracuse died ca. 2008, one of the priests in the diocese memorialized him in the diocesan papers by saying how many Broadway shows he’d seen during his time in the priesthood. An astonishing number of trips from his village rectory to New York City over the years, often with another priest tagging along. I had no clue he did this. (Fr. Shaugnessy has also discussed the use of free time by priests).
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I hope Fr. Rob Johansen has given up cigars.
Art Deco correctly wrote, “A priest with a BMI over 40 is telling you his appetite is an issue.” A BMI over 30 is obese. A priest who is obese is either a glutton or a victim of a medical disease (like diabetes) often (not always) caused by gluttony. While exceptions may exist for an obese condition, there is no excuse for such gluttony. Gluttony is often the socially acceptable one of the seven deadly sins. In piety we often focus on lust (a favorite of mine), anger (another favorite), and pride (definitely a favorite). But often sins like gluttony are ignored. That sin resulted in my diabetes and heart disease. I have no one to blame but myself. But after a 99% blockage of a cardiac artery, I finally decided to obey my physician and do something about it. It’s not bragging to say the truth: I rowed 7 kilometers in 34 minutes this morning and rode the stationary bike for 25 kilometers in 36 minutes last night. A half hour to an hour per day plus discipline when it comes to putting food in the mouth is all it takes. If you’re a priest and you can’t do that, then don’t go bothering to preach to me about morality and virtue because you demonstrably can’t practice it. Again, caveat: there are exceptions to every rule. Some people through no fault of their own may have morbidities that prevent an otherwise physically fit life style. But in my case, the Holy Spirit had to put an 800 lb gorilla on my chest at 11:30 at night for me to wake the frack up and do what I was told to do. That’s never a good thing. And if I can do it at 68 years of age with stents in four cardiac arteries, then anyone can do it, including priests.