Dominus Iesus<\/em><\/a>. Because at the heart of the Church is the Eucharist and if there is not a valid Eucharist the Church is not present in its fullness. So the Church distinguishes between true Churches (including, by the way, eastern Churches not in communion with Rome) and \u201cecclesial communities\u201d which preserve valid baptism but do not have a valid Eucharist (indeed, in some communities, who actively reject not merely a valid Eucharist but any need for any form of communion, symbolic or otherwise). It\u2019s a perfectly rational distinction and is not intended as an insult, but as clarity.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A reader remarks on the tiny kerfuffle among a few Orthodox bishops who said the Catholic Church is not a real Church the other day: Gives me a chuckle as the tables are turned on us Romans. Didn\u2019t Benedict once describe Protestants as \u201cecclesial communities\u201d? Partly correct. Except it was not \u201cBenedict\u201d and its was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[333],"class_list":["post-95616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-breathing-with-both-lungs"],"yoast_head":"\n
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