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Young people ‘take the pledge’ for
Lent
05.03.14
YOUNG Irish people are
becoming six-week pioneers to help them ditch
alcohol.
The Pioneer Association says a growing number of 18
to 40 year olds are taking temporary Lenten pledges
in a bid to cut out alcohol and reflect on their
lives.
Pioneers make three promises vowing to abstain from
all alcoholic drink; wear the pioneer pin and recite
the pioneers' prayer twice a day.
The organisation is encouraging people to sign up
for the next six-weeks, starting today, Ash
Wednesday. Short-term members receive a special pin
and certificate bearing the pioneers' prayer for a
€10 fee.
The Pioneer Association project co-ordinator Raymond
O'Connor said the run-up to Easter is an ideal
occasion for people to take a break from alcohol. He
said some temporary Lenten members go on to longer
periods of abstinence. |
"Many people in Ireland
are under a lot of pressure with drink. For some it
might be opening a bottle of wine at the end of a
busy, stressful day. For teenagers and young people
there can be intense peer pressure to drink like
we've seen recently with the neknominations," Mr
O'Connor told Inishowen News.
"People still need will power but taking a
short-term pledge with us and the spiritual,
prayerful element it brings, can help give them more
incentive and motivation to stick with it.
"It can also help people make a difference to others
in their lives by giving witness and setting an
example." |
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Almost 125 people
signed up as temporary pioneers last Lent with 70
per cent of them in the 18 - 40 age category. Mr
O’Connor said reasons for signing up vary from
person-to-person with some citing an unhealthy
reliance on alcohol themselves or by loved ones.
The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association was founded
in Dublin in 1898 by Jesuit priest Fr James A
Cullen. It currently has some 130,000 members in
Ireland compared to the 500,000 members it had at
its height in the 1960s. For more details see
www.pioneerassociation.ie . |
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