Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national programme called the Eucharistic Revival.

It was not impossible to do both programmes, but as any pastor will tell you, doing two major programmes at once in a parish is very difficult.

It is hard enough to do just one programme while keeping all the other parish activities rolling along.

With a little bit of effort, the two programmes could have complemented each other instead of being in conflict. After all, synodality makes for a better Eucharist, and the Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality.

Both are about communion, participation and mission.

"In its broadest sense," according to the synthesis report from the October 2023 meeting of the synod, "synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity."

"Its orientation is towards mission," says the report, "and its practice involves gathering in assembly at each level of ecclesial life.

"It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions in accordance with their responsibilities."

A central part of the parish and diocesan phase of the synodal process is "conversation in the Spirit," in which participants in groups of 10 listen to each other about issues facing the Church.

The process builds communion and encourages participation in the mission of Jesus.

It is easy to see how this process could translate into participation in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Communion that empowers the Christian community to participate in the mission of Jesus of spreading the good news of the Father's love and our responsibility to love all our brothers and sisters.

But the Eucharistic Revival has a completely different focus.

It is more about Benediction, where the consecrated bread is worshipped, than the Eucharist, where the community is fed.

The impetus for the Eucharistic Revival came from the bishops' fear that the faithful no longer believe in the real presence in the Eucharist.

In fact, many Catholics do not even understand what the Church teaches about it.

Pew Research

According to the Pew Research Center, "More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45 percent) do not know that their Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolise but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Pew found that Catholics believed that the bread and wine were only symbols of Christ's presence.

"Nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,'" according to Pew.

"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

Others, including the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, have challenged Pew's research, but Pew's findings caused a panic among the bishops that resulted in them budgeting $28 million for the Eucharistic Revival, although the budget was later reduced to $14 million.

Benediction vs Eucharist

From its inception, the Eucharistic Revival was about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The revival included Eucharistic processions and Benediction in parishes and dioceses and culminates with a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, where thousands from all over the country are expected to attend.

But, I repeat, the revival is more about Benediction than the Eucharist.

Benediction is all about worshipping Jesus.

The Eucharist is about worshipping the Father and transforming the community into the Body of Christ.

Christ is not made present on the altar table so that we can worship him. He is present so that we can eat him and become what we eat.

The revival focuses on individual rather than community.

• It focuses on me and Jesus rather than the communion of Christians.
• It focuses on what happens to bread and wine rather than what happens to the community.
• It focuses on personal experience rather than mission.

Let me make clear. There is nothing wrong with Benediction, but it is not the Eucharist.

Jesus did not institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper so that we could worship him.

His focus was always on the Father, not himself.

If we listen to the Eucharistic prayer as recited by the priest for the community, we give praise and thanks to the Father for all he has done for us, especially for sending Jesus with the good news of the Father's love and compassion for us.

We pray not to Jesus but "through him, with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit" to the Father.

We remember Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

During the Eucharistic prayer we ask for the Spirit to transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world.

Synodality is about communion, participation and mission; so, too, is the Eucharist.

Too bad the Eucharistic Revival is not.

• First published in RNS
• Thomas J. Reese, SJ is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service

Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national programme called the Eucharistic Revival.

Eucharistic Revival

It was not impossible to do both programmes, but as any pastor will tell you, doing two major programmes at once in a parish is very difficult. It is hard enough to do just one program while keeping all the other parish activities rolling along.

With a little bit of effort, the two programmes could have complemented each other instead of being in conflict.

After all, synodality makes for a better Eucharist, and the Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality.

Both are about communion, participation and mission.

"In its broadest sense," according to the synthesis report from the October 2023 meeting of the synod, "synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity."

"Its orientation is towards mission," says the report, "and its practice involves gathering in assembly at each level of ecclesial life.

It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions in accordance with their responsibilities."

Revival is different from synodality

A central part of the parish and diocesan phase of the synodal process is "conversation in the Spirit".

In this, participants in groups of ten listen to each other about issues facing the Church. The process builds communion and encourages participation in the mission of Jesus.

It is easy to see how this process could translate into participation in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Communion that empowers the Christian community to participate in the mission of Jesus of spreading the good news of the Father's love and our responsibility to love all our brothers and sisters.

But the Eucharistic Revival has a completely different focus. It is more about Benediction, where the consecrated bread is worshipped, than the Eucharist, where the community is fed.

The impetus for the Eucharistic Revival came from the bishops' fear that the faithful no longer believe in the real presence in the Eucharist.

In fact, many Catholics do not even understand what the Church teaches about it.

Research findings

According to the Pew Research Center, "More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45 percent) do not know that their Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolise but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Pew found that Catholics believed that the bread and wine were only symbols of Christ's presence.

"Nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,'" according to Pew.

"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

Others, including the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, have challenged Pew's research.

But Pew's findings caused a panic among the bishops that resulted in them budgeting $28 million for the Eucharistic Revival, although the budget was later reduced to $14 million.

From its inception, the Eucharistic Revival was about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The revival included Eucharistic processions and Benediction in parishes and dioceses and culminates with a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, where thousands from all over the country are expected to attend.

But, I repeat, the revival is more about Benediction than the Eucharist.

Benediction is not Eucharist

Benediction is all about worshipping Jesus.

The Eucharist is about worshipping the Father and transforming the community into the Body of Christ. Christ is not made present on the altar table so that we can worship him. He is present so that we can eat him and become what we eat.

The revival focuses on individual rather than community.

It focuses on me and Jesus rather than the communion of Christians. It focuses on what happens to bread and wine rather than what happens to the community. It focuses on personal experience rather than mission.

Let me make clear.

There is nothing wrong with Benediction, but it is not the Eucharist. Jesus did not institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper so that we could worship him. His focus was always on the Father, not himself.

If we listen to the Eucharistic prayer as recited by the priest for the community, we give praise and thanks to the Father for all he has done for us, especially for sending Jesus with the good news of the Father's love and compassion for us.

We pray not to Jesus but "through him, with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit" to the Father.

We remember Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

During the Eucharistic prayer we ask for the Spirit to transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world.

Synodality is about communion, participation and mission; so, too, is the Eucharist. Too bad the Eucharistic Revival is not.

• First published in RNS
• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS.

If this new study is more accurate, this is good news!

The Pew study asked respondents what they think the Church teaches about the Eucharist and also what they personally believe, using the same question for both.

According to the new study, Catholics misunderstood the wording of the Pew Study, and that's the reason for that study reflecting poorly on Catholics, but not because of their unbelief.

Read More

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 state of final perfection."

Far from being concerned with a narrow, spiritualized understanding of salvation, about "getting saved," Catholics see grace everywhere, disclosed in nature, symbols, stories and persons.

The Rev Andrew Greeley described this vision as the Catholic sacramental imagination.

He argued that "the classic works of Catholic theologians and artists tend to emphasize the presence of God in the world, while the classic works of Protestant theologians tend to emphasize the absence of God from the world."

Catholics tend to stress the immanence of God, Protestants God's transcendence.

Created reality is itself sacramental, revealing the presence of God, hinted at in a forest of metaphors and lurking in human love. Even if somewhat nervous about sexuality, Catholicism sees the body as holy.

It honours the sacred heart of Jesus, his virgin mother Mary, her chaste spouse Joseph and even Jesus' grandparents, Joachim and Anna, who have their own feast day, notwithstanding the origin of their names in one of the apocryphal gospels.

Created reality is itself sacramental, revealing the presence of God, hinted at in a forest of metaphors and lurking in human love.

Most of all, the church draws life from the body and blood of Jesus, present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist has long been the centre of Catholic life, uniting his disciples as his body for the world (1 Cor 10:17).

As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said, "The Church is the celebration of the Eucharist; the Eucharist is the Church; they do not simply stand side by side; they are one and the same."

This reverence for the body, the eucharistic body of Jesus and his body the church, indeed the bodies of all those with whom Jesus identifies—not just the unborn, but the poor, the marginal, the immigrant, the hungry child, the abused woman, those who suffer from racial or sexual discrimination, those disenfranchised or denied their rights by the state, the prisoner on death row—each and every one of these grounds the Catholic concern for honouring bodily life.

Thus arises the concern of a number of Catholics regarding what appears to be the efforts of some bishops in the United States to exclude some Catholics in government from receiving the Eucharist on the basis of what is referred to as "eucharistic coherence."

Yet when questioned on this recently, Pope Francis replied, "I have never denied Communion to anyone," adding that bishops should be "pastors," not politicians.

Pope Francis has repeatedly made clear that abortion is not the only sin against the body of Christ.

If we have learned anything from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is how closely we are related to each other and how devastating any refusal to care for one another by taking proper precautions, such as wearing masks and getting vaccinated, can be. It is not just "my body."

But what is the body of Christ that we receive?

The bishops are rightly concerned about a diminished understanding of Christ's eucharistic presence, and about a reduced participation in the sacramental celebration.

But the survey questions in the 2019 Pew Research Center survey most often referenced in discussions of belief in the real presence are less than adequately formulated. Its statements are ambiguous and can be differently understood.

As Nathan Mitchell has said so well, "The body of Christ offered to Christians in consecrated bread and wine is not something but someone."

For example, the Pew study reports that 69 per cent of Catholics surveyed say they believe that the bread and wine used in the Mass "are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ."

That is not necessarily incorrect.

But if they mean that they are mere symbols, without Christ's real presence, that would replicate the mistake of the 11th-century theologian Berengarius (d. 1088) who seems to have taught that Christ was present in the bread and wine only as a sign, an approach that was seen as merely symbolic.

In response, the Council of Rome (1059) required him to confess that the bread and wine placed on the altar after consecration are "the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the senses not only sacramentally but in truth are taken and broken by the hands of the priests and crushed by the teeth of the faithful."

Most of us would not use such literalist language.

As David Power said, "Who today would care to state that communicants chew on the body of Christ?"

Interestingly, Martin Luther used similar language. Rahner speaks of sacraments as "real symbols," symbols that mediate or make present the reality they symbolize.

The Pew Forum survey also reports that 31 per cent of Catholics say that they believe that "the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus."

But this also can be misinterpreted.

It could represent an overly literal understanding of Christ's presence.

The eucharistic bread is not "literally" or "physically" Christ's body, and the consecrated wine is not literally or physically his blood, as we so often read in articles about the controversy.

When I ask students: When you receive only the eucharistic bread, are you receiving only the body of Christ?

Many answer yes.

This, of course, is incorrect.

The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) adopted the term transubstantiation to affirm that the substance of the bread and wine are changed in the Eucharist into the substance of Christ's body and blood, while the appearances of the bread and wine remain the same.

That term was then adopted after the Reformation by the 16th-century Council of Trent as an "appropriate" (aptissime) way of talking about what happens at the consecration of the Eucharist.

But more to the point, the Council affirmed that in the Eucharist the whole Christ was present, "body and blood, soul and divinity."

In other words, what is present is not discrete flesh and blood, but the risen Jesus himself in his glorified humanity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church adopts this more appropriate language of Trent: In the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained" (No. 1374).

It is not sufficient for contemporary Catholics simply to repeat the formulas of the past. Continue reading

Unlike (most of) their Protestant brethren, Catholics profess that in the Eucharist, the bread and wine on the altar really and truly become the body and blood of Christ.

In addition to pointing toward the reality of Christ (in the sense of a symbol), they are also themselves a source of sanctifying grace (a sacrament) because Christ is really and truly (not merely symbolically) present in them.

But do Catholics really and truly believe that?

A recent Pew Research Center survey finds that "most self-described Catholics don't believe this core teaching.

In fact, nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.'"

In other words, "just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

That result might dismay Flannery O'Connor, and it also leads to a fair amount of consternation among catechists, pastors and people in the pews because it suggests an institutional and pastoral failure to communicate a core doctrine of the faith to several generations of Catholics.

It also led to some alarmed and some gleeful headlines and online clickbait.

• "Most U.S. Catholics Reject the Idea That Eucharist is the Literal Body of Christ";
• "Poll: 7 in 10 US Catholics Don't Believe in Real Presence";
• "Majority of Catholics believe the wine and bread are simply symbolic."

Not new, and maybe not that accurate

But this is not new.

In a 1994 article in The New York Times, religion correspondent Peter Steinfels reported the following: "Yet when a representative sample of American Catholics were asked which statement came closest to ‘what you believe takes place at mass,' only 1 out of 3 chose ‘the bread and wine are changed into Christ's body and blood'."

In other words, the percentage of U.S. Catholics who expressed a belief in the Eucharist that entirely lines up with the Catholic Church's teaching on transubstantiation has not changed at all in a quarter of a century.

Even apart from the clickbait headlines suggesting Catholic belief in the Eucharist has recently collapsed, there are other problems with this survey and the way it has been reported.

For example, 43 percent of the respondents in the Pew survey both believed that the Eucharist is a symbol and thought that is what the church teaches.

In other words, while only 1 out of 3 Catholics gets the theology right, another 4 out of 10 understand themselves to believe what (they think) the church teaches.

Far from "rejecting" belief in the Real Presence, many of these Catholics would likely affirm it, if their understanding of church teaching were clarified or if the question were more exact.

One reason to expect that many of the "disbelievers" Pew found might really be believers is that other recent surveys with differently worded questions got very different results.

As Mark Gray of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate explains, a study in 2011 found that 46 percent of Catholics understood the church's teaching and believed in the Real Presence, and another 17 percent believed in it without understanding the teaching. (This agrees with data from CARA surveys in 2001 and 2008, which found that around 6 in 10 Catholics believed Jesus was really present in the Eucharist.)

What might explain the difference?

The surveys that found higher agreement used the terms "really becomes" or "really present," whereas Pew used "actually becomes."

And when describing the "symbol" option, they were a bit clearer about what that meant too—the 2011 survey described that option as the bread and wine being "only symbols," and in the 2001 and 2008 surveys, the option was the "bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present."

When language more familiar to Catholics is used and the surveys are clearer about what is being denied by the "symbol" answer, belief in the Eucharist is nearly double what Pew found. Continue reading

I've never been much good at speaking in tongues, prophecy or healing (read: not at all). But I have been labelled the "Queen of Spreadsheets" (rather Marian huh? I wonder if there is an 'Our Lady Queen of Spreadsheets-and-all-things-electronic'?).

I grew up in a household where one's ability to be organised, well-planned and well-executed was pretty much considered essential on the path to holiness. Sigh...every family has its ways, eh?

Then I met my husband. Now, before you get the idea that my husband is some scatter-brain, disorganised, bumbling sort...he, too, is an expert in being organised. He was in the military once upon a time. He still refers to twenty-four hour time and carries a compass (slight exaggeration). Enough said.

However, what he has, and what I'm still (painfully) acquiring is an ability to temper that organisational (productive) drive to get a balance.

I stand to be corrected, but I don't think anywhere in Scripture is it written that we must not be late, we must be highly organised, or even that we must be productive for productivity's sake. I even read once how Blessed John Paul II would get so wrapped up administering the sacrament of reconciliation, he'd be two hours late for his next appointment.

Sure, we need to give ourselves each day, in our vocations, our families, our workplaces and communities - earn a good wage, go about with a general attitude of service and self-gift, fight the good fight, run the good race - but nowhere does it say we need to be productive and tick off a lot on the 'To Do List'.

Sure, the nature of today's society obliges us to provide for our families as best we can, and for many families that still demands an enormous amount of 'productivity' in order to just get through the day.

But each of us knows how much of our 'productivity' is necessary, and how much of it is pride and default? Do we know how to get off the treadmill? Do we know how to disconnect from technology and connect to those around us? Do we know how to simply not feel anxious about a day that went pear shaped even if we lived it charitably and faithfully?

My husband is, as I said, rather more talented at this than I. He listens to the ebbs and waves of nature and isn't constantly trying to get one more thing done. I sometimes give him a hard time when something takes a while to get done (like putting in that leave request at work!) but then his ability to know when to shift down gears is an essential temper to my tendency to stay in 5th gear all the time.

Trying to knock 'productivity' from pride of place as the thing driving my day is still hard. However, getting to morning Mass is one of the ways I'm trying to do that. It's a bit out of the way...15 minutes' drive there, then 15 minutes' drive to work.

There's something ironic about honking at the Sunday driver because you're 'rushing' from Mass to work. I calculate just how much more I could get 'done' if I just didn't go to Mass today. And some days I'm ridiculously distracted and have to try with all my might to focus (and still don't get there).

The point is, it's an appointment, with God, everyday...and I realise how essential that time becomes - to mull, to just be and give thanks...to intentionally not be 'productive' as defined by the world, and yet it is the most productive thing of all (eternally-speaking).

The very fact of getting into His presence, receiving Him in the flesh is the ultimate way to knock productivity from being 'pride of place'.

Heather King wrote a great blog on this recently...a similar experience of being so wrapped up in her own productivity, that she was stopped in her tracks when she received a message from a reader asking her to explain more the meaning of the 'real presence' when we talk about the Eucharist.

"I'm trying to work, I'm trying to be effective, I'm trying to bear fruit here and you're going to ask me to explain the Real Presence? This is not something you can dash off in an un-thought-out sentence or two..."

I can't think of a better place to start than just spending a bit of time with the Lord as a way to avoid 'productivity' becoming our highest goal. In fact, it's perhaps the little way that each of us, in our own heart, can be a bit 'counter-cultural'.

Today's culture is ruled very much by economic concepts of value...including how we value time and action. From what do you need to seek a bit of refuge in the Lord? Excessive 'productivity' [that's perhaps not all that productive anyway]? A love of stuff? Unnecessary 'noise'? Mindless technology? We've all got something whose gravity is competing with that of the Lord...but whose fruits pale in comparison to His presence.

- Lucy O'Donoghue
Lucy O'Donoghue lives in South Asia with her O'D husband (true Irish right there). Lucy changes her mind every week what she wants to 'be' or 'do' in her life, much to her husband's and parents' dismay. Nevertheless, she has spent the last few years earning her bacon in the humanitarian sector in Africa and South Asia and is currently completing a Master of Arts in Catholic Theology at the Augustine Institute.