Mags GarganMags Gargan speaks to the new president of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association
James Shevlin describes becoming the fifth President of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association last March as “the crowning moment of my life”. A retired primary school teacher from Glinsk in Co. Galway, James took the pledge at his Confirmation and has remained a Pioneer ever since.
“I could not wait for my birthday to come when I could join the Pioneer Association as a Probationer and wear the Pioneer pin on my jacket and then go on to become a full member,” he says.
It is a decision James has never regretted. He now has a silver pin and is looking forward to a gold pin in a few years’ time.
James is a member of the Glinsk Centre and serves as treasurer and PRO for the centre, and he says his appointment as president of the association was not only a personal and family honour, but also an honour “to my centre, Glinsk, the Roscommon/Athlone Region and Connaught”.
“I am strengthened by the great trust and confidence that has been placed in me and I hope I can justify that trust and confidence,” he says.
Following his Leaving Cert., James studied in St Patrick’s Training College, Drumcondra and qualified as a primary teacher in 1973.
He taught for one year in Ballymun and a further year in St Joseph’s Fairview and then returned to his own former primary school, Ballincurry N.S. as principal.
This school was amalgamated to become Glinsk N.S. in 1973 and he taught there as deputy principal until his retirement in 2013.
He still does voluntary football coaching in Glinsk N.S.
James has had a very active sporting career and played most games, with his main interests being Gaelic Football and Badminton. He won a Connaught Colleges medal with Coláiste Seosaimh and won county medals with his club, Glinsk.
James is married to Carmel and has three sons; Kevin, Damien and Aidan; a grand-daughter, Jaimie and two grandsons, Donnacha and Adam.
As a member of Glinsk Parish Pastoral Council he is chairman of the Liturgy Committee, he is a church reader and he also accompanies and directs the Glinsk Church Choir.
James is the president of the Roscommon/Athlone Regional Committee and is also Chairman of the Connaught Provincial Activities Committee. He is a member of the PTAA Board of Management and represented the Diocese of Elphin on the PTAA Central Council.
James says he is “very passionate about the future growth and development of the Pioneer Association” and has worked very hard at all levels to advance the interests and future of the association.
He says the phased withdrawal of the Jesuits from the PTAA over the next three years presents a “massive challenge”, but it also offers the association an opportunity to “establish ourselves into a vibrant, active spiritual lay-led organisation”.
“We were very saddened by the announcement by the Jesuit Provincial, Fr Tom Layden that the Jesuits will be withdrawing from the Pioneer Association.
He did not make this decision lightly, but due to a fall in vocations and a rising age profile within the Jesuits, he was left with no option,” James says.
“He did however give us a three-year transition period through which the Jesuits would assist us in becoming a lay led spiritual association. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Jesuits who provided us with so many wonderful priests to serve us in the PTAA.”
On his own vision for the future of the association, James says he is keen to get the National Youth Pioneers active and reaching out to younger members and hopes that “our Under Age activities can be developed to provide a recreational dimension to the spirituality of our association”.
Strategies
He also plans to work hard to help and encourage centres and regions to continue to function and to “make every effort and offer any help I can to revitalise some of the weaker or lapsed centres and regions”.
“I am also anxious to maintain our current membership, try to regain former members and to help to develop strategies to enrol and keep younger people as active Pioneers,” he says, while also encouraging members “to wear and display the Pioneer emblem at every opportunity” as a means to promote the association.
James stresses the need for positive thinking and feels that the Pioneer Association is more needed and relevant now than it ever was. “Younger age drinking has reached a crisis point and the liberal availability and low pricing of alcohol is a major contributor to this problem,” he says.
He also singles out the sponsorship of sporting events by alcoholic drinks companies as something that needs to be addressed as it sends out conflicting messages, particularly to younger people.
“I feel there is an obligation on this Government and on future Governments to fully address our drinking culture and the many health, social behaviour and family problems related to it,” James says.