"How much can I drink before it becomes a mortal sin?" This provocative question, posed by a young man to his priest, opens a doorway to profound spiritual reflection about our relationship with alcohol. The priest's answer was transformative: drink as much as you want, provided it's compatible with loving God with your whole heart and loving your neighbor as yourself.
This question frames our thoughtful exploration of Catholic teaching on alcohol consumption. Drawing from the Catechism, we discover that while the Church doesn't condemn alcohol outright, it emphasizes temperance and warns against the dangers of drunkenness. We examine when drinking might cross the line into mortal sin, requiring grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent.
Scripture offers us a balanced perspective, acknowledging both wine as a gift that "gladdens the heart of man" and the warnings against drunkenness that "leads to debauchery." Through the wisdom of saints like Augustine, Benedict, and Thomas Aquinas, we gain insights into how temperance isn't about restriction but about freedom—saying yes to the greater joy of union with God rather than temporary pleasures.
This isn't about judgment or shame but discernment and living in alignment with God's call. I invite you to reflect on how your drinking affects your relationships with God, others, and yourself. Are you making an idol of alcohol, or is it serving as a substitute for the peace only God can provide?
Whether you're questioning your relationship with alcohol or seeking deeper understanding, remember you're not alone on this journey. Visit thecatholicsobrietycoach.com to explore resources that can support your path toward spiritual freedom.
Article: How much can I drink before it becomes a mortal sin? by Dr. Christopher Kaczor - Word on Fire https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/how-much-can-i-drink-before-it-becomes-a-mortal-sin/
Video: Catholics, Alcohol, and Drinking with Fr. Mike Schmitz
https://youtu.be/5OMO0JDxuPU?si=IjnsKuxLgm1akIcB
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(00:22):
the Catholic Sobriety Coach, andI am so glad you're here.
Hello friends, and welcome backToday.
I actually want to begin bysharing just about an email that
landed in my inbox a coupleweeks ago.
It was from Word on Fire andthe subject line immediately
(00:47):
grabbed my attention.
As soon as I tell you what itsaid, you're going to be like oh
yeah, I could see how thatwould grab her attention.
The title was how Much Can IDrink Before it Becomes a Mortal
Sin?
Now, if you're anything like me, you probably read that and
thought wow, that's a prettyloaded and provocative question,
(01:10):
and it was asked by?
Well, it was asked by a youngman who is now a grownup.
It's Dr Christopher Kaczor.
I think that I said his nameright, but he asked his priest
that question when he was inhigh school.
He was just getting ready tograduate from high school and
(01:34):
actually the question that hefirst asked is is getting drunk
a mortal sin or is it a mortalsin to get drunk?
And the priest just immediatelyanswered yes.
But you know he wanted a littlemore.
(01:56):
He wanted to know a little bitmore information.
Is there like some gray area?
And so he decided to ask hispriest a follow-up question,
which was how much can I drinkbefore it becomes a mortal sin?
Now, I don't know if you'veever asked yourself that
question or thought about it,but it just kind of made me
chuckle, because I haveteenagers and I can just see how
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you know their brains work andthey're like well, where's the
line?
Like, can I get close to thatline without going over that
line?
And you know this isn't just ateenager thing, it's all of us
Anyway.
So the priest, in a verymasterful way, flipped the focus
not to the action itself butreally to the true heart of the
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matter, and he answered bysaying you may drink as much as
you want, provided it iscompatible with loving God with
your whole heart and loving yourneighbor as yourself.
So when I read that I thoughtthat was a pretty thoughtful
response and it really did evokesome extra thought later for Dr
(03:13):
Kaczor to think about.
And he was asking himself if Iam to love God with my whole
heart and my neighbor as myself,how much can I drink?
And he notes that it took himmore than 30 years to figure
that out because, honestly, likea lot of us, he just didn't
(03:36):
want to know.
But, as Catholics, for many ofyou, you may find yourself
asking this question and alsomaybe confessing this sin of
alcohol misuse or over drinkingover and over again.
And I think that that is a goodquestion to keep in mind as
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you're examining your conscienceor examining your drinking.
Is your alcohol consumptioncompatible with loving God with
your whole heart meaning you'renot making an idol of it and
also, provided it's compatiblewith loving your neighbor as
yourself?
So, does your drinkingadversely affect those around
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you?
Do you show up?
When you say you're going toshow up, does it keep you from
being the person that you wantto be?
And I think that those are.
I think that that is somethingto journal about and pray about
with the Lord.
So, as you can imagine, thisreally has just stuck with me
(04:46):
and I've been thinking aboutthis podcast episode and doing a
little research and you knowit's also just kind of a hard
topic kind of, but it's also soimportant, it's so deeply
relevant to the work that I doas a Catholic sobriety coach, as
someone who is leading peopleto discover the level of
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sobriety that works for them sothat they can take alcohol or
leave it with peace, whetherthat means giving up alcohol
entirely or just greatlyreducing it.
So today's episode is dedicatedto exploring this question
through the lens of Catholicteaching, and to do that I
decided to break it down intothree parts.
(05:33):
The first part is we're goingto discuss what the Catechism of
the Catholic Church has to sayabout drinking.
And one quick note you know,even though we're talking about
drinking here, this can go forany disordered attachment, so I
just want you to keep that inmind.
(05:55):
Anyway, so the three parts ofthis episode are going to be
again what the Catechism of theCatholic Church says, what the
Lord says through sacredscripture, and then what
insights we can gather from thesaints.
So I just want you to see thisas an opportunity to have a
(06:19):
compassionate, honest,faith-filled conversation about
alcohol and how it intersectswith our spiritual lives.
If you've been around for awhile, you know that I'm all
about curiosity and not shame,right.
So we're not going to startberating ourselves about it.
If you listen to this podcastand you suddenly realize that
(06:44):
you drinking, the way thatyou're drinking, is a mortal sin
, then take that to confessionas soon as you possibly can.
But what I am doing this for isfor awareness, so that you can
start to look at your drinkingvery honestly and thinking to
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yourself what is it giving meand what is it taking away?
And, most importantly, how isit affecting my spiritual life,
how does it affect myrelationship with God?
So just wanted to put thatlittle caveat out there Again.
Just be scientists, get curious, look at it as evidence and
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then, once you have it, then youcan start to, you know, make
changes that are going tobenefit you If we don't look at
it, kind of like what Dr Kaczordid, you know, for 30 years he
didn't want to really thinkabout it or ask himself that
question.
Maybe you're there as well, butit's not the worst thing to
(07:53):
start thinking about it, to kindof start to pull that out and
really look at it, because onceyou shine light on it and you
start looking at it, then you'regoing to be able to make steps
forward to fix it right.
So that's what we're all abouthere and I hope that this
(08:16):
episode is going to help withthat.
So let's begin with theCatechism of the Catholic Church
.
Now it's important to note thatthe church does not condemn
alcohol outright.
Let me just say that we knowthat, right, we know that the
church does not condemn alcohol.
I've had people say but Jesusdrank wine and all those types
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of things and yada, yada, yada.
Of course it's fine, it's apleasure, it's one of those
things that you can absolutelyuse it in moderation and not
overindulge.
I mean, this is evidenced byits role in the celebration of
the Eucharist and its presencein scripture as a sign of joy
(09:02):
and fellowship.
I mean, we see, jesus's firstmiracle is the wedding at Cana,
when he turns the water intowine.
So again, the church is notagainst alcohol.
But the catechism does emphasizethe virtue of temperance, which
helps us moderate our desiresand to use God's gifts in a way
(09:25):
that serve our well-being.
So in the Catechism of theCatholic Church paragraph 2290,
it tells us that temperancedisposes us to avoid every kind
of excess, including the abuseof alcohol.
So drinking in moderation not asin, but drinking to the point
(09:51):
of drunkenness is a differentstory.
The catechism also goes on tocall out culpable drunkenness as
a grave offense when itendangers our health, our life
or leads us into further sinfulbehavior.
(10:12):
And that's in 2291.
So here's the key point for usCatholics For drinking to become
a mortal sin we know this rightFor something to be a mortal
sin, it needs to meet threecriteria.
One, it involves grave matterso sorry if you're listening to
(10:56):
this episode and you didn't wantto know that, but now you do so
.
Now you have full knowledge.
And three, the person givesdeliberate consent to the act,
knowing its consequences.
Now I want to reiterate againthis teaching isn't about
shaming anyone, but aboutcalling us to reflect on whether
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our choices honor God and alignwith his design for our lives.
All right, now let's talk aboutwhat scripture has to say about
alcohol.
We see that the Bible doesn'tshy away from the topic of
alcohol at all.
It offers a balancedperspective that acknowledges
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both its goodness and its risks.
So, on one hand, alcohol iscelebrated as a gift.
We see in Psalm 104 that itjoyfully proclaims that wine
gladdens the heart of man.
And, as I mentioned before,jesus' first miracle was turning
water into wine at the weddingof Cana.
(12:02):
So these moments highlight thatalcohol in and of itself is not
sinful and that it can be asource of joy and fellowship
when it is used appropriately.
But scripture also gives usclear warnings about its misuse.
For example, in Ephesians 5.18,it says Do not get drunk on
(12:27):
wine which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with theSpirit.
And Proverbs 20 tells us thatwine is a mocker and whoever is
led astray by it is not wise.
Drunkenness is consistentlyportrayed in the Bible as
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harmful because it cuts us offfrom our relationship with God
and others.
The loss of self-control thatcomes with drunkenness is
opposite of what we are calledto as Christians.
When it's overused, it candarken our will and our
intellect, and we are called topractice virtue and be filled
(13:10):
with the Holy Spirit.
But that's really hard to dowhen we're filling ourselves
with the artificial spiritsinstead of the Holy Spirit,
which is really and truly whatour soul craves.
What our soul desires is thatindwelling of the Holy Spirit.
(13:32):
So the other thing when you lookat scripture and I'm just
thinking there's two storiesthat are coming to mind, and I
might not get them perfectlyperfect, but I'm thinking of one
where Noah plants a vineyard,he gets drunk.
His sons uncover their father'snakedness, which means or at
least one of them does, whichmeans they had that one of the
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sons had relations, physicalrelations, with one of Noah's
wives not the guy's mom, butlike another wife of Noah.
That's what Father Mike said inBible Linear when we covered
that piece of scripture.
But then the other one is likewhen Lot's daughters, lot's
daughters get him intoxicatedand then, and yeah, so they can
(14:21):
procreate, and yeah, it's justbad, it just obviously wasn't
used appropriately and it wassinful.
And so those are just twoinstances that happened to come
to my mind when I was talking toyou right now, but I'm sure
there's many other ones.
Also, in Romans 14, we'rereminded that we need to be
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mindful about how our actionsimpact others.
So drinking in a way that couldcause someone to stumble which
is kind of what I'm talkingabout in those two instances in
the Bible could lead a person tosin in a serious way.
Drinking and driving not a goodthing, because it's dangerous
and you could take someone'slife or yourself.
(15:04):
So that's definitely an instantwhere consuming or over
consuming and then driving wouldbe a mortal sin.
But here's the thing.
When we are looking at this,we're looking at both the joy of
alcohol and that's for somepeople, like for me.
It causes me zero joy.
(15:25):
It only causes me heartache andchaos and just all kinds of bad
things.
But for those of you who canhave it and have a little joyful
, cheerful spirit and use it inmoderation, that's great.
Go for it.
I love that for you.
It's not something that I canobviously do, but the focus is
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on the love of God and neighbor.
So if you can consume in a waythat you are still focused on
love of God and neighbor, then Iguess that could be considered
a way of drinking responsibly,because you're not in a state of
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mortal sin while you'redrinking and you're also not
causing anyone to stumble orlead them to sin.
Okay, now we are going to turnto the saints, because their
wisdom not only inspires, but ithelps us frame this
conversation about alcohol in away that is both practical and
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deeply spiritual.
Now, one of the most well-knownvoices when it comes to
struggling with vices is StAugustine, who famously said Our
hearts are restless until theyrest in you, o Lord.
St Augustine understood betterthan most the challenges of
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overindulgence.
He struggled with excess in hisearly life.
He struggled with chastity andall of those earthly pleasures,
including alcohol, and he notesthat those were just
distractions from the ultimatejoy of union with God, of union
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with God.
Now his story reminds us thattemperance isn't just about
saying no to pleasure for itsown sake.
Instead, it's about saying yesto the greater joy of a life
rooted in God's love.
I think so often we strugglewith giving things up or giving
up pleasures, and we can havelike that deprivation mindset
because we're so focused on whatwe're giving up instead of what
(17:43):
we're gaining.
And I think that that issomething that Saint Augustine
just brilliantly illustratesthat we are not just giving it
up for its own sake, we aregiving it up so that we can say
yes to more God and more gracesin our lives.
(18:04):
Now next we have Saint Benedict,the father of Western
monasticism.
His rule of life offerspractical guides for just about
every aspect of living,including drinking.
Now, while he did allow monksto enjoy wine, he also included
a caveat that moderation mustalways be practiced.
(18:28):
Saint Benedict wrote we readthat monks should not drink wine
at all.
But since monks nowadays cannotbe convinced of this, let us at
least agree to drink moderately.
Saint Benedict wiselyacknowledges human weakness in
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this quote, while settingthoughtful boundaries to help
his community live virtuously.
Thoughtful boundaries to helphis community live virtuously.
And then there's St JohnChristusom I don't know if I
said that right Took a muchstronger stance on drunkenness,
calling it the mother of allevils but also undermines our
(19:10):
capacity to grow in holiness.
Christus' words might feelharsh, but they do reflect his
deep love for souls and hisdesire to protect them from harm
.
Now let's shift to St ThomasAquinas, the great doctor of the
church.
He wrote extensively aboutmorality in his Summa Theologica
(19:35):
.
Aquinas emphasizes thatdrinking alcohol is not sinful
in itself.
However, it can become sinfulwhen taking to excess, impairing
reason and leading to poormoral choices we talked about
earlier, because that's whatscripture was saying as well.
He also taught that culpabledrunkenness could be a mortal
(20:01):
sin if it involves grave matter,full knowledge and deliberate
consent.
Again, those are the threemarkers of a mortal sin.
Aquinas viewed temperance as avirtue of balance, helping us to
avoid extremes and live inharmony with God's plan.
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Now, saint Padre Pio is abeloved modern saint.
I just love Padre Pio, and hetaught by examples.
Now, while he didn'tspecifically preach about
alcohol.
His teachings onself-discipline and avoiding
those near occasions of sin areso, so relevant here.
(20:44):
Padre Pio encouraged hisfollowers to cultivate lives of
virtue rooted in prayer andsimplicity and, honestly, for
him, temperance was the path tosanctity.
Another powerful voice comesfrom a well-known and also
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beloved saint, saint Francis ofAssisi, whose life of radical
simplicity speaks volumes aboutprioritizing what matters Now.
He didn't explicitly discussalcohol, but his example on
focusing on spiritualnourishment over earthly
pleasures is a profound witnessfor us today.
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It's kind of like he's theminimalist right.
We hear about that a lot, somaybe if we can look at our
drinking from a minimalistperspective, that could be
really helpful for some of you.
St Francis of Assisi reminds usto ask ourselves always what is
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holding me back from fullyfollowing Christ?
Is that alcohol for you?
And finally, I just want tohighlight Venerable Fulton Sheen
, who offered some uniquereflections on why people turn
to alcohol.
I've listened to a couple ofhis sermons on them and if you
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know venerable Fulton Sheen orhave heard him, you know that he
intermixes his wisdom andinsights with humor.
He's a delight to watch and Iwatched some talks on this and I
noticed that he observed thatsome drink to seek what is good,
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while others drink to escapewhat is bad.
His insights invite us toexamine not just how we use
alcohol, but why.
Are we making an idol ofalcohol in our lives, or are we
seeking comfort from it insteadof turning to God for peace?
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What I love about these saintsis how their teachings point us
to freedom found in temperance.
It's not freedom rooted inrestriction, but in living fully
aligned with God's will, andthey remind us that alcohol,
when used appropriately, can bea gift, but it can never, ever
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be a substitute for the ultimatesatisfaction that comes from
knowing and loving God.
I'm also going to include a linkto a video by Father Mike
Schmitz.
He's not a saint yet, oranything like that, but I'm
going to include a link to anAscension video that he did.
I think it's probably likeseven to 10 minutes long.
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I'll put that in the show notesso that you can gain some
insights from watching that aswell.
Gain some insights fromwatching that as well.
So, as we close, I just want toleave you with this question to
reflect on in your own prayerlife, and that is how is my
drinking affecting myrelationship with God, others
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and myself.
Again, as always, this isn'tabout judgment or guilt or shame
.
It's about discernment.
It's about curiosity, it'sabout learning what is going on
and then being able to plan forthe future.
It's about living in alignmentwith the life that God calls us
(24:25):
to, because, ultimately, that isgoing to bring you the greatest
fulfillment.
Now, if this is an area whereyou're struggling or seeking
clarity, just know that you arenot alone.
Bring it to prayer, considerspeaking with a priest or
spiritual director, and, if youfeel called to deeper
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accountability, I am here tosupport you, either through
one-on-one coaching or throughmy Sacred Sobriety Lab.
Thank you so much for takingthis time with me today.
Until next time, remember thatevery step you take in faith is
a step toward freedom.
God bless you.
(25:06):
Well, that does it for thisepisode of the Catholic Sobriety
Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I would invite you to share
it with a friend who might alsoget value from it as well.
And make sure you subscribe soyou don't miss a thing.
I am the Catholic SobrietyCoach, and if you would like to
(25:26):
learn how to work with me orlearn more about the coaching
that I offer, visit my website,thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
Follow me on Instagram at theCatholic sobriety coach.
I look forward to speaking toyou next time and remember I am
(25:47):
here for you.
I am praying for you.
You are not alone, thank you.