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<\/a><\/p>\nWhile the Republicans were in Milwaukee, some 50,000 Catholics were in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress<\/a>, the culmination of pilgrimages and processions across America following a consecrated Host.\u00a0 The goal is a \u201ceucharistic revival,\u201d described as \u201cthe joyful, expectant, grassroots response of the Church in the United States to the divine invitation to be united once again around the source and summit of our faith in the celebration of the Eucharist.\u201d<\/p>\n The catalyst for this was two disturbing polls<\/a>.\u00a0 In 2019, Pew Research asked Catholics what they believe about the bread and wine in Holy Communion, whether they believe that\u00a0\u201cduring Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become<\/em> the body and blood of Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Or whether they believe that the bread and wine used in Communion \u201care symbols<\/em> of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n The first alternative is \u201ctransubstantiation,\u201d which is the teaching of the Roman Catholic church, the view that the bread and the wine are changed<\/em> into the body and blood of Christ.\u00a0 Their very \u201csubstance\u201d is changed, though the \u201caccidents,\u201d the external appearance of the bread and wine remain.\u00a0 Quite literally, they \u201cbecome\u201d the body and blood of Jesus.\u00a0 But though this is the official and required dogma of the church, only 31% of Catholics said they believe that!<\/p>\n Conversely, 69% of Catholics\u2013over two thirds\u2013said they believe in the radical Protestant Zwingli\u2019s position that the bread and wine are just symbols.<\/p>\n Not only that, a later survey by Catholic researchers in 2022 found that the percentage that believes in transubstantiation was little changed (35%), but it went on to ask the respondents what they thought the church\u2019s teaching on the subject is.\u00a0 A majority<\/em> of Catholics (51%) believe that the church teaches<\/em> that \u201cJesus is only symbolically present in the consecrated bread and wine.\u201d<\/p>\n The bishops<\/a> were shocked at this data.\u00a0 They launched a three-year program requiring special teaching about the Eucharist in every diocese, getting laity involved in vigils of adoration of the Sacrament, Corpus Christi processions, and other devotional exercises, all culminating in the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n Recently, another survey<\/a> went out, finding that the laity\u2019s lack of sacramental knowledge might not be so bad after all.\u00a0 Vinea Research, a Catholic outfit, criticized the previous studies for using the word \u201cbecome.\u201d\u00a0 That is not the language the catechism uses, the organization claimed, or that Catholics are familiar with.\u00a0 So the new alternatives were these:<\/p>\n a. Jesus Christ is truly present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist<\/p>\n b. Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not truly present.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This time, when Catholics were asked about the \u201creal presence\u201d rather than transubstantiation, the findings seemed more encouraging.\u00a0 A full 69% said they believe in the real presence\u2013the same percentage that said in the other poll that the elements were just symbols!\u00a0 Vinea concluded,<\/p>\n \u201c[U]sing language more commonly understood by Catholics, Vinea\u2019s research indicates that many more Catholics than originally thought have an authentic understanding of the core Catholic teaching of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,\u201d the group said in a press release.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n These findings are being hailed as evidence that, in the words of the title of an article on the subject,\u00a0New study suggests more than two-thirds of Catholics believe the Eucharist is truly Jesus<\/a>.\u00a0 No, this new study suggests that more than two-thirds of Catholics still don\u2019t believe in transubstantiation.\u00a0 They believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, not that He is the Eucharist.<\/p>\n The \u201creal presence\u201d is not really a full \u201cauthentic understanding of the core Catholic teaching.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s more of a Protestant term,\u00a0 though it\u2019s understood in different ways, used in Lutheranism but also in some Reformed traditions, such as Anglicanism, which speak of a real \u201cspiritual\u201d presence.<\/p>\n Conservative Catholics<\/a> recognize that the Catholic teaching has to go beyond \u201cpresence\u201d language.\u00a0 Peter M.J. Stravinskas makes that point and observes, accurately, that even Martin Luther had a stronger belief than the one suggested in the survey.<\/p>\n To be sure, we Lutherans sometimes speak of the \u201creal presence,\u201d but that\u2019s insufficient to fully describe what we believe about the \u201csacramental union.\u201d\u00a0 We have to always be able to say, along with Christ, \u201cThis is<\/em> my body.\u201d\u00a0 This is<\/em> my blood.\u201d<\/p>\n I read one Catholic theologian explaining that transubstantiation, which has to do with Christ\u2019s body and blood, is what makes possible the real presence of the entire Christ, body and soul.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 The terms can be used together.\u00a0 Similarly, the Lutheran\u2019s sacramental union makes possible the real presence of Christ.<\/p>\n But much of the Catholic discussion of the eucharist on line, even among priests and theologians, is just \u201creal presence.\u201d\u00a0 Does this mean Catholics are drifting away from the doctrine of transubstantiation?\u00a0 Are they recognizing that this teaching is untenable, a quasi-Gnostic or docetic rejection of matter as an illusion?\u00a0 Cath0lic thinkers say much about the sacramental nature of the material world, but transubstantiation denies that:\u00a0 If the bread and wine no longer exist, but are just an illusory appearance, the capacity of the material realm to convey Christ is rejected, not affirmed.<\/p>\n Are Catholics coming around to the Lutheran position?\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 Maybe they are coming closer to a \u201csacramental union\u201d understanding of real presence.\u00a0 But for Lutherans, Christ\u2019s presence is not the whole issue.\u00a0 The Small Catechism<\/a> says of the Sacrament of the Altar, that \u201cIt is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIt is.\u201d\u00a0 The Catechism goes on to say in answer to the question, \u201cHow can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?\u201d,<\/p>\n Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: \u201cGiven and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.\u201d These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: \u201cforgiveness of sins.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For Lutherans, the Sacrament is not a sacrifice we offer up to God, or a meritorious work, or a devotional offering, or something sinners need to stay away from, as in the Catholic system.\u00a0 Rather, it is the tangible Gospel, Christ\u2019s body given \u201cfor you\u201d; Christ\u2019s blood poured out \u201cfor the remission of all your sins.\u201d\u00a0 In Holy Communion, we thus receive Christ in faith.\u00a0 For Lutherans, the Sacrament is inextricably connected to justification by faith.\u00a0 I\u2019m not seeing Catholics going that far.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n