Letters, sermons, and official Church correspondence from the 1900s reveals a persistent struggle for Goan Catholics — the laity and clergy — against alcoholism, a demon that seemed embedded in social and spiritual life
Goa’s Catholic community has long borne a heavy burden — an association with alcohol consumption and the addiction that followed. In the 1900s, this perception did not escape the eyes of the Church. For decades, whispers and accusations painted the Catholic faithful as particularly susceptible to the scourge of alcoholism, a vice that gnawed at the very fabric of the Goan community.PhD scholar Dr Maria de Lourdes Bravo Da Costa, who was also the Assistant State Librarian (retd) at the Goa state central library, reveals in her work titled, ‘Portuguese Colonialism, Food, and Society in Goa’, that the grim statistics at the time revealed a disturbingly higher mortality rate among Catholics.“This struggle against alcoholism in Goan Catholic society stands as a fascinating chapter that reveals a community wrestling with its own demons while striving to uphold spiritual ideals,” Da Costa told TOI.According to Da Costa, the problem was not new. It had existed, though with less intensity, among both the laity and clergy through the ages, as evident through letters, sermons, and official Church correspondence.Through her findings, the PhD scholar reveals that the Archdiocese of Goa first made formal moves in the early 1930s, issuing the 1931 Portaria, an order prohibiting the serving of food and drink — especially alcoholic beverages — within sacristies and parochial houses. Yet, these measures yielded limited success.
“The indulgence persisted, even at religious celebrations such as the ladainha (devotional gatherings),” said Da Costa.In 1934, the Church escalated the battle by issuing a circular that explicitly condemned the presence of alcohol at sacred functions, branding it a “real sickness” and a sacrilege to Catholic dignity. Priests were entrusted with the solemn duty of enforcing these rules, with the threat of canonical penalties hanging over transgressors.“It was not easy for the Church to look the other way and say that nothing was wrong with the Catholic community, and hence it decided to take remedial action,” writes Da Costa.Da Costa’s thesis shows records that reveal numerous cases of clerics being unable to fulfill their duties, and subjected to ecclesiastical penalties ranging from fines to suspension and exile. A combination of social pressures and isolation in rural parishes led the clergy to seek refuge in the bottle. Recognising this vulnerability, the Church called for discipline and abstinence.In 1933, a seminar — Congresso da Acção Católica (an association of lay people) – was convened to address the moral and social ailments plaguing Goan Catholics. The patriarch of the Archdiocese of Goa, moved by the discourse, said “the vice of alcoholism was like a cancer that had frighteningly invaded the archdiocese.”Thus emerged the landmark Carta Pastoral, a pastoral letter issued on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a day of profound spiritual significance. In this letter, the Church appealed for rigorous enforcement of laws restricting alcohol sale and “overlook any loss in income” if the rules were implemented.The letter admitted that alcoholism no longer existed only amongst the illiterate of Goan society, but was widespread amongst different social classes, even corroding the youngsters and the adolescents.“Historically, the Church had to face this problem amongst the clergy and the people. So, it was not surprising that the patriarch called the attention of the priests, stating that they should be the first to practice restraint as they were not above the law. Many of them were prone to drinking and became alcoholics,” writes Da Costa.Although the battle to control alcoholism was taken up by the Church, the intelligentsia—Catholics and Hindus alike—and others, it was observed that not much was done by the government to put an end to alcoholism. According to Da Costa’s research, the primary cause was the requirement for taxes on the produced and sold alcohol, “crucial sources of cash for a region that had little throughout the 1950s, apart from Goa’s mining industry, which helped tide away the difficult situation created by the economic blockade implemented by the Indian government on the Portuguese territories.”
