The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart (or PTAA) is an Irish organisation for Catholic Teetotallers. Its members are commonly called Pioneers.
It was founded in 1898 by James Cullen SJ in response to widespread alcoholism among Irish Catholics as the earlier Temperance movement of Father Mathew was fading from memory. While the PTAA does not advocate Prohibition, it does require complete abstinence from alcoholic drink from its members. It also encourages devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as an aid to resisting the temptation of alcohol.
In the 20th Century, the term Pioneer became synonymous with teetotallism among Irish Catholics; Pioneers wear a lapel pin with an image of the Sacred Heart, both to advertise the organisation and to alert others not to offer them alcohol. In train with the growing secularization of Irish society, membership of the association is increasingly restricted to older people. Younger Catholics who choose not to drink alcohol are unlikely to belong to the PTAA.
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