Slowly, imperceptibly, we are leaving the Covid days behind us and a new reality is being born. Weeks and months drifted by without the Eucharist and now we are waking up to a new dawn. Much has changed. The familiar pattern of Eucharistic ministers waiting to offer each of us the cup at time of Read more
As I write this the war news gets grimmer by the day. We have gone in the space of a few weeks from ‘it could not happen’ to ‘not in 2022!’ to ‘is there no respect for life – much less for self-determination – in Putin’s vision?’ Meanwhile, many of us are discovering just how Read more
“Only one-third of American Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ,” the US-based Pew Research Center noted last August. “You see, even Catholics agree with us!” said the Protestants in a sigh of relief. But conservative Catholics were greatly alarmed. “Sixty-nine per cent of Americans who consider themselves Catholics do Read more
Catholicism has been sometimes described as a very materialistic religion. Why? Because Catholics take created reality seriously. Karl Rahner, S.J., once called Christians “the most sublime of materialists” because they “neither can nor should conceive of any ultimate fullness of the spirit and of reality without thinking too of matter enduring as well in a Read more
The great Jesuit philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan once described those nostalgic for the pre-1970 liturgy as a group “that is determined to live in a world that no longer exists”. The phrase came back to me recently when I read of another Jesuit, Pope Francis, who spoke about finding “new languages for handing on Read more
In everyday life, our experience tells us – unconsciously – when it is appropriate to use the verb ‘to give’ and when it is appropriate to use ‘to share.’ So we might ask someone to ‘please give me that book lying there’ or ‘I gave him the money’ or ‘she should give that form to Read more
The U.S. bishops are working on a document on the Eucharist, which could be very helpful if they do it right. The chances are slim. The origins of the document go back to the bishops’ fight with pro-choice Catholic politicians, such as John Kerry, over the legalization of abortion. Some bishops, like Cardinal Raymond Burke, Read more
In recent debates a serious misunderstanding of Christian practice is often put forward by those who seek to defend the so-called ‘Tridentine Rite’ which has the effect of juxtaposing a ‘meal’ and a ‘sacrifice.’ These objectors completely ignore not only the fact that within our deep tradition – much older than the time of Jesus Read more
A 40-mile eucharistic procession by boat and on foot along the Bayou Teche in Lousiana is now in its seventh year. It always takes place on the feast of the Assumption. The Blessed Sacrament was fixed on an altar on the lead boat under a canopy. Another boat carried the statue of the Assumption of Read more
What would happen if a mouse or a dog consumed a consecrated host? If the thought seems too crass even to consider, please know that I am not the first person to ponder the question. St. Thomas Aquinas did. Read more