Alcohol Awareness Packet Available
Episcopal News Service. October 10, 1985 [85203]
WASHINGTON (DPS, Oct. 10) -- Did you know that a recent study of fourth-graders indicated that more than 40 percent considered drinking as their classmates' most serious problem? Or that a sample survey done in one San Francisco hospital found that 28 percent of patients 60 years old and over had a serious drinking problem?
These are among the facts found in a packet produced by the National Episcopal Coalition on Alcohol for Alcohol Awareness Sunday. Established by resolution of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council for the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Alcohol Awareness Sunday falls on Nov. 24 this year, the Feast of Christ the King, and its theme is "Alcohol and the Times of Our Lives".
As described in a letter introducing the materials, the "resource booklet outlines important information, viewed from a Christian perspective, on each of the 'times of our lives' -- childhood, youth, adulthood, mid-life and elderhood." Done on separate sheets, these include "A Theology of Passages," thoughts on each stage, pertinent facts and suggested actions. Also available is a bulletin insert which contains a litany for use on Alcohol Awareness Sunday, a sample sermon, suggested discussion questions and possible projects, a selected bibliography, a sheet of biblical quotations relevant to each of Alcohol Anonymous's "Twelve Steps" and a poster.
The National Episcopal Coalition on Alcohol had its genesis in the struggle of diocesan groups to respond to the 1979 General Convention resolution on alcoholism, which called, in part, for each diocese to form a committee and to develop a written policy on alcoholism. Headquartered here, it describes itself as "a nationwide network of Episcopal laity and clergy, dioceses and provinces, seminaries, schools, and agencies -- all with a common commitment to address the problem of alcoholism and other chemical dependencies."
The 1985 Alcohol Awareness Sunday packet is available from the Coalition for $5.00. The address is P. O. Box 15471, Washington, DC 20003-0471.