Pioneers in jeopardy - Challenge remains

THAT iconic organisation — the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association — may have to pull down the shutters because the well has run dry. Though our economic collapse may have something to do with it, the age of its members and the Catholic Church’s loss of influence must be contributory factors too.

Established by Jesuit James Cullen over a century ago the movement represented a populist Catholic response to a culture too comfortable with alcohol abuse.

Though the organisation may be in jeopardy, the issues around alcohol abuse and other addictions are as pressing if not more so than they were when the Pioneers were established in 1898. The Pioneers may be fading but the challenge remains.