Make Text Larger Make Text Smaller Email this Article to a Friend Print this Article

Cappo slams binge drinking

Published: June 16, 2008

Adelaide Vicar-General Monsignor David Cappo has backed a call by church leaders for urgent action to address binge drinking among young people.

Adelaide Now reports Msgr Cappo, who is also chairman of the State Government's Social Inclusion Unit, said heavy drinking and alcohol abuse was becoming a disturbing pattern in young people's lives.

"This is dangerous for these people and for the whole community and we cannot accept this behaviour as the 'norm'," he said.

"The impact and cost, economically and socially, of alcohol misuse and abuse cannot be underestimated.

"Motor vehicle crashes, violent and aggressive behaviour, assaults and health problems - physical and mental - can all be consequences . . . ultimately these issues can also put cost pressures on our health and welfare system and in turn, taxpayers."

Monsignor Cappo joined Adelaide Anglican Archbishop Jeffrey Driver who says binge drinkers are abusing their right to a "full and rich life".

Archbishop Driver said binge drinking could only be addressed by society as a whole and must offer an alternative to the "self-indulgence of 'getting wasted'."

Uniting Church SA Moderator Rod Dyson called for a ban on alcohol advertising similar to bans on promoting cigarettes.

"It is not in the best interests of our community to actively promote and advertise alcohol," he said. "We warn about the dangers of smoking and other drugs and we ban smoking in public places, yet we still allow alcohol advertising."

SOURCE

Churches warn against wasting lives (Adelaide Now, 16/6/08)

LINKS

Monsignor David Cappo (Adelaide Archdiocese)

 

Response to articles is welcome. Simply follow the prompts to post your comment. No posting of more than 250 words will be published. While critical comment on stories and issues is welcomed, postings that descend to personal attacks on or impugn the integrity of other commentators will be blocked. Please use your own name, or initials, eg John Brown, or JB, or JAB, or Johnny. You are also required to add your location to the end of your email - as in, Sunshine, Victoria. Please provide your email address in the line supplied, followed by your contact phone number. These are requested for identification purposes only and will not be published. If you have any problems, please email news@cathnews.com

Recent Comments

  1. What about these churchmen teaching St Paul's explicit words that "drunkards are precluded from Heaven". Non repentance means hatred for God and eternal separation ( Hell).

  2. I agree there should be a ban on alcohol advertising, similar to bans on cigarettes; something must be done to help our youth.

  3. As someone who has lived in a religious community and seen the lifestyle of a significant number of isolated clergy, I find it a "bit rich" of Mons Cappo to slam young people for their drinking habits.

    Perhaps he should spend more time with his brother priests whose drinking pattern is "dangerous for these people and for the whole community and we cannot accept this behaviour as the 'norm'"

    I know that not all clergy are binge drinkers, nor is it fair to stereotype young people in such a patronising manner.

  4. Tony, it isn't stereotyping. Binge drinking and also drugs taking is common in several youth age brackets.
    I've seen it very close to home. I have spoken to several binge drinkers whilst out on a regular drink.
    Most do it to escape pain from unresolved problems, sometimes to numb grief but often due to personal issues and fear of life and of life's responsibilities including another aspect of feeling empty or less than worthy or worthwhile as human beings. Lack of prayer and intimacy are important factors in this issue.
    Thanks to modernism and liberalism within the Church via smiling 'its' ok/ the world's ok' sloganeering clerics who abandon traditional Catholic teaching, liturgy , doctrine, and social doctrine of the Leonine variety we have a materialist, uncensored world of business and an open all hours consensus that is also killing our youth and also the not so young too.

  5. I find it ironic that Msgr Cappo is 'slamming' binge drinking, given Catholics are known for their excessive alcohol consumption. I'm in my late 20s and it is interesting that my Catholic friends drink just as much as my un-churched mates, yet my Protestant mates generally drink less... and plenty of them are teetotal, like me. The Catholic church needs to look at the attitudes of other Christian churches and how that reduces alcohol abuse among their members, and also ban alcohol at Catholic gatherings and school events.

Delicious

More from this section

  1. Vatican approves Mary Aikenhead Ministries

    The Holy See has given permission to the Australian Sisters of Charity to establish a new canonical entity to be known as Mary Aikenhead Ministries.

  2. Byron Bay loses Sunday Mass

    Major tourist resort, Byron Bay, will be without a regular Sunday Mass from this weekend after Lismore Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett announced the amalgamation of parishes in the whole Byron shire.

  3. Government apology on state wards includes churches

    On behalf of the South Australian government and churches, Premier Mike Rann formally apologised in parliament yesterday to state wards who were sexually abused.

Church Resources provides a range of services for the Church and not-for-profit sector, including aggregating buying power for a wide range of products and services used by health, welfare, aged care, education and parish organisations. More »

Subscribe

Receive CathNews headlines in your inbox daily.

News Feed

Subscribe to the CathNews RSS feed to get the daily edition automatically delivered to you.