Does your religion allow for the consumption of alcohol? If so, how does that work? Can you drink as much as you want or are there any restrictions and why?
Yes to the first question.
Jesus evidently consumed a fair amount of wine, such that he gained a less-than-desirable reputation for being a heavy drinker (even though this was, purportedly, slander and a misrepresentation). In his own words, he proclaimed, “
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard’” (Luke 7:34). The Greek word translated as “drunkard” is
oinopotes, which means a
winebibber, one who drinks far too much wine.
He even spoke about the fermentation process in parabolic form, as part of his ethical teaching: "
Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” (Matt. 9:17; see also Mark 2:22, Luke 5:37-38). The old skins burst because the wine contained yeast—the catalyst of fermentation—which causes expansion. Similarly, the saying “
no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is good’” (Luke 5:39).
Jesus
drank. His precursor, St. John the Baptist, did
not drink and this decision to embrace a life of ascetic abstinence was equally extolled by Jesus, as an alternative path to holiness:
"For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’...Yet wisdom is justified by all her children" (Luke 7:33)
Whether one wishes to be a Jesus or a John, is left to personal determination in accordance with conscience in my religion - outside the sacramental usage of wine. Both Jesus and John were 'wisdom's children', differentially manifested in two quite variant yet mutually complementary lifestyles.
Jesus - for his part - was a man who knew his fine wines and enjoyed them as a moderate, convivial pastime with friends and acquaintances at feasts. Since we regard him as the truest exemplar for the moral life, it is evident that it is 'holy' and acceptable for the faithful in Christ to live as Jesus did in this way, by deriving pleasure and enjoyment from reasonable consumption of alcoholic beverages -
De Imitatione Christi.
Furthermore, Christians are explicitly encouraged by Scripture to drink a 'little wine' to ease discomfort or suffering: "
No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (
1 Timothy 5:23).
The most sacred rite of my religion is - coincidentally? - the Sacrament of Holy Communion (or 'the Eucharist'), which involves the ritualistic consecration and consumption of "
bread and wine". The
Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts that one of the “
essential signs of the eucharistic sacrament” is “
grape wine” (CCC 1412).
Canon law stipulates that properly 'sacramental wine' must be alcoholic to pass the test of "
valid matter" for the words of institution. According to Heribert Jone’s
Moral Theology: "
Wine is lawful matter if it is unadulterated, fermented, unspoiled and clear” (359). Grapejuice is, therefore, not a valid alternative:
Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church Liber (Cann. 879-958).
Can. 924 §1. The most holy eucharistic sacrifice must be offered with bread and with wine in which a little water must be mixed.
§2. The bread must be only wheat and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling.
§3. The wine must be natural from the fruit of the vine and not spoiled.
Sacramental wine can be red or white, dry or sweet -
even fortified, provided the source of fortification is also grape-derived - so long as the 'alcoholic content' stays between 5 and 18%.
From this initial premise, I think it is quite evident that alcohol consumption is not merely 'allowed' but
presupposed in Catholicism, at least for our ritual setting during Mass.
However, we are not promoters of an unhealthy alcoholism and its deleterious effects for both the individual sufferer and wider society.
For this reason, the
Code of Canon Law also rules that 'mustum', a practically non-alcoholic beverage derived from grapes, can be used in exceptional cases for 'alcoholics' who still wish to consecrate (if they happen to be the priest, because he must drink from the cup of blessing) the sacramental wine:
“Canonists and theologians have commonly held that mustum, or the unfermented juice of ripe grapes, is valid matter for the Eucharist but is gravely illicit except in necessity.”
When is it necessary and therefore licit (or allowed)? The CDF document
Norms for Use of Low-Gluten Bread and Mustum stipulates that “
the permission to use mustum can be granted by ordinaries to priests affected by alcoholism or other conditions which prevent the ingestion of even the smallest quantity of alcohol, after presentation of a medical certificate” (II:B).
Without this special dispensation, however, such matter is not lawful because the normative 'licit matter' is completely fermented alcoholic
wine. For that reason, the
Norms for Use of Low-Gluten Bread and Mustum declare: “
Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of the priest, candidates for the priesthood who are affected by celiac disease or suffer from alcoholism or similar conditions may not be admitted to holy orders” (III).
So, the preceding dispensation is applicable only to a man already ordained and subsequently exhibiting symptoms of alcoholism. This stringent requirement demonstates how seriously Catholic doctrine treats the
alcoholic quality of the wine - it is absolutely fundamental for the sacrament.
To your second question: 'abuse' of alcohol - drinking to excess, beyond moderate enjoyment and a nice pleasant 'tipsy' feeling from time-to-time - and the addiction that can accrue therefrom, is not condoned: this arises from a lack of respect for one's own health and the safety of other people, both of which may be endangered by one's incapacitated mental functioning and loss of inhibitions whilst under the influence.
Hence the reason why "
temperance" is one of the cardinal virtues in Catholic morality. Temperance is the “
moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods”. Temperance also “
ensures the will’s mastery over instincts” and restrains our appetites (
CCC1809):
Catechism of the Catholic Church - The fifth commandment
2288 Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good.
2290 The virtue of temperance disposes 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.
In addition to the foregoing, we are counseled by the church to hone another cardinal virtue: that of '
prudential judgment' or discrimination.
Exercising prudence, it may very well be the case that a person determines - in their conscience, which is 'supreme' - that drinking alcohol would be personally
bad for them, on account of genetics or a lifestyle that predisposes the individual to 'substance-abuse' / addictive tendencies. Thus, teetotalism is necessary for certain people and a boon for society, if adopted
willingly out of free volition.
St. Paul laid down this rule for life in his
Epistle to the Romans:
"I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean...
Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.
The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve" (Romans 14:14; 20-22)
Alcohol is 'clean' in itself (as with everything else in dietary choices) but if a person judges it to be an 'unclean' influence on their life, personally speaking, then it is morally wrong for that person to consume what they know to be detrimental to their wellbeing or that of other people in close proximity to them. Also, when you’re in the company of an alcoholic, St. Paul counsels the believer to be vigilant not to tempt the person into succumbing to what for them constitutes a vice. But this doesn’t mean you should never drink - just temporarily forgo it to save that other person from "
stumbling".
Primacy of individual conscience and profound respect for that same freedom of choice in other people is the guiding norm under Christ's "law of liberty" as to whether one should drink or abstain. As St. Thomas Aquinas says:
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Things that are contained in the New Law (Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 108)
Article 1. Whether the New Law ought to prescribe or prohibit any external acts?
Article 1. Whether the New Law ought to prescribe or prohibit any external acts?
The New Law of Christ consists chiefly in the grace of the Holy Ghost, which is shown forth by faith that worketh through love....
On the other hand, there are works which are not necessarily opposed to, or in keeping with faith that worketh through love. Such works are not prescribed or forbidden in the New Law, by virtue of its primitive institution; but have been left by Christ, to the discretion of each individual.
And so to each one it is free to decide what he should do or avoid
And so to each one it is free to decide what he should do or avoid; and to each superior, to direct his subjects in such matters as regards what they must do or avoid. Wherefore also in this respect the Gospel is called the "law of liberty".