# A question about priests and alchoholism **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924 "2010-05-01T00:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/21 "2010-05-02T16:32:23Z")
Maybe I’m misremembering, but when I was young and going to church, the priest would dip the Eucharist in the chalice with the wine/water mixture and put that on the tongue of the communion takers so they weren’t getting more than a taste. At the end, the priest would finish off what was left in the chalice. If the priest was a boozer, there’d probably be a big gulp of mostly wine in the chalice, but otherwise it was diluted with half water and there only had to be a little sip left so finishing it off was no big deal. There was no obligation to polish off a whole wine bottle or anything, unless as I said, the priest was a boozer, which many were. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/22 "2010-05-02T17:56:39Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Maybe I’m misremembering, but when I was young and going to church, the priest would dip the Eucharist in the chalice with the wine/water mixture and put that on the tongue of the communion takers so they weren’t getting more than a taste. This practice, called intincture, is more prevalent among the Eastern Rites. It is specifically not permitted in the Latin Rite, (although when giving the Eucharist under both species was first re-introduced in the late 1960s, and not everyone was paying attention to the rules, it did appear in some Latin Rite parishes for a while). I will not claim that it never occurs in a Latin Rite church, but it is not supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/23 "2010-05-02T19:40:29Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > At the risk of opening a big can of worms: This common wisdom is a “belief” spread by AA. It is not necessarily a “fact” supported by scientific evidence. I have a very low opinion of AA myself, however, While I don’t believe it happens in every case, the truth is, based on my experience with an alcoholic drug abuser, for her it certainly took the slightest of slips for her to go off the deep end. Personally, I’m a paranoid type, if I had an addiction and beat it, I would never take the slightest amount of my former drug of choice. Sure some people can do it, but the fact is, If you never take another taste, you don’t have to find out the hard way the you aren’t one of the people who can handle it. My 2 cents worth. AllFree ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/24 "2010-05-02T20:21:27Z")
My impression is that typically a priest who is a “recovering alcoholic” (i.e. on the wagon) will not consume any wine but will touch the chalice to his lips without drinking from it after administering himself the bread, so as not to make it obvious he’s abstaining from the cup. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/25 "2010-05-02T20:24:42Z")
> [@trupa](#): > > In my experience as an altar server of over 15 years, communion wine is both higher in alcohol (circ. 25% - I got to look at the bottle label while refilling the cruets) and sweeter. I was told that it’s so that it will last much longer after opening without going bad, like a regular wine would. Also I imagine the extra potency can, with some justification, allay the worry about drinking from the same chalice as other people ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/26 "2010-05-02T20:55:14Z")
haha, gosh, back in the day catholic priests were well known for being raging alcholics… was a subject of great amusement… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924/27 "2010-05-02T22:26:53Z")
I’m not Catholic, but because the prayer is for “the fruit of the vine”, either wine or nonalcoholic grape juice may be used for Kiddish. I’ve been to more than a few that only offered wine, and more than a few that only offered grape juice. In fact, I went to one that was to celebrate someone’s “sober bar mitzvah” (don’t ask) that used neither to avoid the appearance of alcohol. To answer the question, the one recovering rabbi I knew just used grape juice. Since this is in accordance with the law, there’s no need for subterfuge or complicated diversions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-priests-and-alchoholism/537924.md?page=1)