The spread of the scourge of alcoholism, its devastating consequences at the social level, and the current debate on the prolongation of the hours of sale of alcoholic drinks in pubs, have led Father Gerry Nugent, parish priest of St. Patrick, at Andiston, archdiocese of Glasgow, to promote a series of spiritual initiatives aimed at those who have becomes the slaves of alcohol, considered one of the main causes of death in Scotland. In recent days, as reported in the last number of Flourish, the magazine of the archdiocese of Glasgow, Fr. Nugent organized a celebration with the participation of former alcoholics who are beginning to get over their addiction and families who have lost loved ones as a result of alcohol abuse. The event attracted enormous interest, not only thanks to the extensive media coverage given to the recent death of the famous footballer, George Best, he too a man dogged by problems of alcohol dependence, but even more so because Father Nugent himself is a former alcoholic. “The celebration he declared wanted to remind everyone that there is a solution to this illness with God’s help. Many alcoholics try to do something; they want to overcome their addiction and ask for help. They also include those who have lost all contact with the Church. By returning to Christ and to the Church, they are able to rediscover a new lifestyle”.
