AMERICAN CATHOLIC TOTAL ABSTINENCE UNION 30,000 STRONG.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1899, Page 4 (Supplement)

AMERICAN CATHOLIC TOTAL ABSTINENCE UNION 30,000 STRONG.

The Right Rev. Michael Tierney, Bishop of Hartford, Conn., has adopted a practice of asking all children he confirms in his diocese to make a promise of total abstinence during the years of their minority. He has also, by word and example, done strenuous work for total abstinence. When it was announced to him that he was unanimously elected President of the Catholic Abstinence Union, he sent a letter of acceptance, in which he said: — "Pray that God may inspire all of us to work for the redemption of the poor drunkard and the preservation of the sober and of the children. These last, if not cared for, will be the drunkards of the future. United, persistent, earnest personal action, -will prevail against all odds — even against intemperance. The people are witn us, the clergy are with us, and God is with us. What then, have we to fear? We must be up and doing, and show to the world by our personal nobility of character that we are engaged in a holy, a glorious work — the upraising and preservation of our fellow-man. God bless and protect the C.T.A.U., and bring its blessing to every household !" Would that Catholic prelates and clergy throughout New Zealand take the same stand — the happiness of the people as a whole would be immeasurably increased.