Prince of Peace Parish

The aim of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart is the promotion of sobriety and temperance through...

• faith and prayer

• self­ denial leading to inner freedom

• setting beneficial example to others

presenting alternatives to the drinking scene, particularly to young people;•

Advocating the ideals and values of temperance and sobriety in society. The duty of a Pioneer is to build a society where people live to their full potential. We reach out to those who suffer from alcohol­ related harm. 

The Pioneer, like all Christians, is convinced that the love of God, as revealed in Jesus, is central to their lives. Pioneers are people who kindle the fire of God’s love in the hearts of others. 

The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart was founded by Fr James Cullen SJ, Mrs Anne Egan, Miss Lizzie Power, Mrs Mary Bury and Mrs  A.M. Sullivan on 28 December 1898 in the church of Saint Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin, Ireland. Born in New Ross, County Wexford in 1841,  James Aloysius Cullen spent two years as a curate in Wexford and then some years on preaching missions around Ireland. He was accepted into the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1881. 

He was always concerned with social issues, and his motivation in setting up the Pioneer Association was to address the enormous damage that he saw excessive alcoholic consumption was doing in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century.

Many workers were heavy drinkers and this put a heavy strain on the weekly earnings of the family. Fr Cullen witnessed first ­hand the destitution caused by excessive drinking, particularly on the women and children of these families, when he said: “I felt that, as a rule, women deserved exceptional sympathy, because they were the greatest sufferers in the wreckage caused by drink – they were but too often the hidden, silent, uncomplaining victims of its cruelty and of its savagery. It was this insatiable, selfish monster of drink which robbed themselves and their little ones of housing, food, clothes, education, religion and extinguished every prospect of betterment in their lives. It was drink which condemned them to hunger, loathsome rags and squalor … In fighting for temperance they would be fighting, as no other could fight, for themselves and for their children, for earth and for heaven”. He decided to take action, planting the seeds of a temperance movement which has grown and which continues to make a positive contribution to family life today. 

What is the message Fr Cullen might have for the Pioneers today? I think we find something of that answer looking forensically at the Pioneer emblem. There, we find the Heart and the Cross.  The hearts of too many homes have been ruined by alcohol abuse; the Heart and the Cross are, for so many, too closely entwined.  The Lord’s Heart pulsates for us with a burning love, particularly when we feel we are unlovable, when we feel left out or when we experience being forgotten. 

Their Association grew to become one of the most prominent Catholic movements in the first half of the twentieth century in Ireland. The mission of the Pioneer Association is summarized in the Heroic Offering ­ a prayer which is said every morning and every evening by Pioneers. 
For Thy greater glory and consolation,O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for Thy sake to give good example, to practice self-denial, to make reparation to Thee for the sins of intemperance, and for the conversion of excessive drinkers, I will abstain for life from all intoxicating drinks. Amen.
“The chains of habit are too weak to be noticed until they are too strong to be broken.”(Samuel Johnson) 
“How I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction! Yet I realize that no words of encouragement will be enough unless the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts.” ­ Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium #261