{"id":152988,"date":"2018-05-04T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T13:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-what-if-ive-had-prior-problems-with-alcohol\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T14:54:25","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T18:54:25","slug":"ask-a-priest-what-if-ive-had-prior-problems-with-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-what-if-ive-had-prior-problems-with-alcohol\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ask a Priest: What If I’ve Had Prior Problems With Alcohol?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Q:\u00a0\u00a0In the past I have struggled with being moderate in my drinking, and many times slipped into drunkenness that lead to other sins. However, I have been working on this and don’t struggle as much as I used to. There have been a couple of occasions, though, where when I didn’t eat enough beforehand, or because of feeling anxious, I have accidentally had too much to drink and became fairly intoxicated (in one case it was only one glass of wine but because I had not eaten and wasn’t being careful, it affected me a lot). I know under some circumstances this would not be a mortal sin since it was an accident. But since I have struggled with drinking in the past, and should know to be more careful, I am wondering if that makes it a mortal sin in my case. I am also wondering if, because I do struggle with drinking, a “firm purpose of amendment” in confession would be to give up drinking completely, or just continuing to be as careful as possible. \u2013 C.<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC<\/em><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0It isn’t easy to say when drinking crosses the line into mortal sin. Every person needs to know his limits in the use of alcohol.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the inquiry about mortal sin is the wrong question to ask. Let me explain.<\/p>\n

If you have had problems with alcohol in the past, and these have led to other sins, then it might be good to squarely face the reality that drinking poses grave risks for you. Ideally your response should be one of caution, not flirting with disaster.<\/p>\n

Think of it this way. Imagine you are driving on a twisting mountain road, with no guardrails and with a steep cliff on one side. Do you ask yourself, “How close can I drive to the edge without plunging into the valley below?” One hopes not. Rather, you are more prone to think, “This is a dangerous road. I need to slow down and hug the center line.”<\/p>\n

In the case of drinking you might consider slowing down. At the very least, it would be good to give yourself strict parameters. Unless you give up drinking altogether (not a bad option), at least consider a no-alcohol-without-food rule. And perhaps limit yourself to one drink, period. If any of this seems extreme, just remember what is at stake.<\/p>\n

In the meantime you want to maintain a solid prayer life and sacramental life, and consider looking for positive social activities that don’t involve alcohol (such as museum visits, Bible studies, volunteer work, etc.).<\/p>\n

So, rather than trying to avoid grievous sins with alcohol, it might be better to look for activities that don’t require any alcohol.<\/p>\n

Keep learning more with Ask a Priest<\/a><\/h3>\n

Got a question? Need an answer?<\/h3>\n

Today\u2019s secular world throws curve balls at us all the time. AskACatholicPriest is a Q&A feature that anyone can use. Just type in your question or send an email to AskAPriest@rcspiritual.wpenginepowered.com<\/a> and you will get a personal response back from one of our priests at RCSpirituality. You can ask about anything \u2013 liturgy, prayer, moral questions, current events\u2026 Our goal is simply to provide a trustworthy forum for dependable Catholic guidance and information. So go ahead and ask your question\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q:\u00a0\u00a0In the past I have struggled with being moderate in my drinking, and many times slipped into drunkenness that lead to other sins. 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He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine and an editor of the Zenit news agency\u2019s English edition. He has written for\u00a0SpiritualDirection.com\u00a0and\u00a0ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South\u00a0and assisted with mission work in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to\u00a0Ask A Priest\u00a0questions and sharing his insights in our\u00a0Weekly Newsletter.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/emcilmail\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152988"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=152988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}