For young people today, face-to-face connection is more vital— and yet, more foreign— than ever.
In his recent address to Benedictine College students, hosted by the Thomistic Institute, Dr. Michael Foley expanded on this point. Foley, author of the Drinking with the Saints series of books, urged young people to drink not just responsibly, but “like a saint.”
“[Young people] got the double-whammy of the covid lockdowns, then they got out of the lockdowns and everyone was on social media,” Foley said. This isolation during formative years left current college students in search of face-to-face social interaction.
People certainly connect around alcohol, but how can they do so in the healthiest, holiest way? Foley centers his tips around five things: moderation, memory, gratitude, merriment, and ritual.
While moderation is often talked about in terms of drinking, memory and gratitude are rarely highlighted. Foley used the example of a wedding celebration, in which two families gather and give thanks for everything that has been and that will be.
“At a wedding, you’re not toasting the union of two individuals, but of two long lines of love,” Foley said.
Toasts, Foley said, also make up an important ritual surrounding alcohol. Rituals like making a toast among friends add to the merriment of drinking.
Foley made the important distinction between happiness and merriment, stating that happiness can be solitary, but merriment is experienced with good company.
“We still know how to party, but we don’t know how to make merry anymore,” Foley said.
In Foley’s vision, a culture of merriment involves people enjoying drinks together intentionally, with not just moderation, but also memory, gratitude, and ritual. This, Foley poses, is how one drinks like a saint.
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