Drinking Right09/14/05
By last Friday night, I was pretty much Katrina’d out. Catholic Exchange had run a series of Katrina articles, I had run dozens of Katrina posts on my blog, Fox News was providing constant Katrina coverage.
It looked like FEMA director Michael Brown would be fired and that the casualty count wouldn’t near the 10,000 estimated. But I had this column to write and, with a weekend full of commitments, my Monday morning deadline loomed forbidding. Everyone was still talking about Katrina. Column ideas were hard to find.
Thank goodness for beer.
And the biggest beer event of them all: Oktoberfest, which starts this Saturday and continues until October 3. I’ve never attended Oktoberfest, but it’s one of my before-I-die destinations, just two or three slots behind Rome and 92,824 or so slots ahead of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade.
I’ve always envisioned Oktoberfest as a fun-loving, loud, good time. A lot of solid beer-drinking and amusing lederhosen. Nothing terribly sinful (maybe a venial here or there); just fun.
But I had heard some outrageous stories lately.
Last year, things got out of hand, with terribly inebriated guests, semi-nude women riding on men’s backs, and disco-like music instead of the traditional stuff. The head of the festival, Gabriele Weishaeupl, said: "It has begun to turn into an orgy for party animals. The tents are not supposed to be discos, but should remain traditional Bavarian beer tents.”
He means it. This year, the festival will prohibit alcopops: sweet, fizzy drinks that mask the alcoholic taste and are more likely to cause people to over-indulge. The festival authorities have also obtained assurances from beer tent owners to refrain from pop music and instead concentrate on traditional brass bands.
You’d think these guidelines would be unnecessary. If you’re drinking an alcopop at Oktoberfest, you need to check your common sense.
If you want pop music, go to the local German discotheque.I’m glad the organizers are getting a handle on things. Bavaria, after all, is solidly Catholic country, and Catholics should show the rest of the civilized world how to have a good time.
Yes, I’m saying that Catholics should lead the way in showing people how to drink and celebrate life.
It reminds me of an interview with John Paul II. An interviewer was inquiring about his skiing and asked, “Isn’t it unbecoming for a pope to ski?” To which JPII replied, “No, it’s unbecoming for a pope to ski poorly” (that’s a rough characterization; I saw the exchange in a movie and don’t remember the exact details).
If you’re going to do something that’s not sinful, do it well. To do otherwise reflects poorly on your faith.
As a lawyer, I’ve never had much patience for the dripping-with-Christianity businessmen who seem too holy or other-worldly to be competent at their jobs. It simply reflects poorly on Christianity, and if your calling is to be a businessman, you best take it seriously and do the job well. Anything less is a scoff at the Creator who put you in that position.
These same principles apply to Oktoberfest.
If drinking and celebration are good things (and I won’t take the time to argue they are; readers unconvinced are referred to the works of Josef Pieper), then Catholics ought to do them well.
And if the drinking and celebration take place in the heart of a Catholic region, then that region better make sure celebration is good.
This means the celebration must be fun.
But excess must be avoided, for reasons that most readers of this site don’t need explained.
Some day, I’ll make it to Oktoberfest, and I’ll drink my share of beer and have a great time.
But the next morning, I’ll be at Mass.Most good Catholics would have it no other way.
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange
Eric Scheske is an attorney, the Editor of The Daily Eudemon, a Contributing Editor of Godspy, and the former editor of Gilbert Magazine.
Original URL: http://catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=1&art_id=30023
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