A Period of Transition I11 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Acadian clergy did in fact participate very actively in this 
     
     first convention, as it did in the others that were to follow. 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT 
     
    
   
   
    
     The founding of parishes and the presence of resident priests 
     
     facilitated the development of societies of a religious or socio-religious 
     
     nature. No other organization was better promoted by the Church 
     
     and the clergy than the temperance society. In fact, alcoholism was 
     
     a serious problem which all the Churches considered to be the sin 
     
     of the century and which they all sought to eliminate. The temperance 
     
     movement was actually started in Ireland in 1838 and spread quickly 
     
     to all English-speaking countries. It was firmly established on the 
     
     Island by 1841, thanks to Bishop MacDonald. Under his leadership, 
     
     the clergy founded several Total Abstinence Leagues. Father Sylvain- 
     
     Ephrem Poirier became president of the league he founded in Cascum- 
     
     pec for Prince County. To become a member, one had to promise not 
     
     to consume alcoholic drinks except in the case of illness. By the end 
     
     of 1841, there were five thousand members of the temperance move- 
     
     ment on the Island”. 
     
    

    
     The movement was successful for a long time, although it had 
     
     its ups and downs. The clergy was obliged to revitalize it from time 
     
     to time—apparently with the arrival of a new generation. Generally 
     
     these temperance societies took the form of cultural and educational 
     
     groups whose members organized variety shows, established bands 
     
     and libraries, invited guest lecturers and supported both morally and 
     
     financially any worthy cause. 
     
    

    
     Father Belcourt, a Québécois priest, organized a temperance 
     
     society in Rustico in 1860 shortly after his arrival in the parish. Having 
     
     spent many years as a missionary with the Red River Indians and 
     
     Métis, he was fifty-six years old when he came to the Island. He 
     
     named his society the Institut catholique de Rustico and chose Saint 
     
     John the Baptist as patron saint. The purpose of the institute was to 
     
     educate parishioners and dissuade them from alcohol abuse’. The 
     
     members met regularly to listen to Father Belcourt’s talks on topics 
     
     as varied as education, economics and science. In 1864, he wrote: