Catholic temperance movement

Catholic involvement in the temperance movement has been very strong since at least the nineteenth century, with a number of specifically Catholic societies formed to encourage moderation or total abstinence from alcohol. In Ireland, the priest Theobald Mathew persuaded thousands of people to sign the temperance pledge, therefore, establishing the Teetotal Abstinence Society in 1838, which would later be renamed the Knights of Father Mathew.

Source: Wikipedia — Catholic temperance movement (CC BY-SA 4.0)