Self-denial is still necessary, Dr Connell reminds Pioneers

The "milder penitential discipline of the Church following the Second Vatican Council was never intended to extinguish the spirit of penance", the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, said last night during a Mass to mark the centenary of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.

Rather, it was intended to foster a penitential attitude inspired by love. "Pioneers abstain from alcohol, not because it is evil, but because abstaining from something lawful and good is a way of imitating and sharing the generosity of Christ, who did not please himself but accepted the burdens of his life on earth to benefit us all," Dr Connell said.

The message of penitence, he admitted, "is difficult to convey in these times. But, in spite of the prevailing consumerism and of the pressures that advertising creates for instant gratification without restraint, young people still know that sacrifices are needed if they are to attain success where it really matters." Dr Connell instanced the world of athletics and study for academic awards.

"Even the pagan philosophers taught that training in virtue was incompatible with uncontrolled self-indulgence," he said. "Character, reinforced by virtues that firm up our resolution to control the impulse to pleasure, is essential to personal dignity and to the maturity of a fully responsible manner of life." Christians had a higher motive for self-denial and penance, however, "the motive of love".