One More Time: It's All About the Eucharist

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August 7, 2007

On July 10, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church", a document stating the absolutely-not-new fact that, yes, the Church does believe it is the Church Christ founded and that other Christian bodies are right insofar as they agree and with and preserve Catholic teachings and practice and wrong insofar as they reject or add to them.

The media response was all so predictable, more like kabuki than journalism. “Reactionary” Benedict is overturning Vatican II. Church says Protestants aren’t Christian. Only Catholics are going to heaven.

It mattered not one whit that the CDF was restating the language of the Council itself, not “overturning” it. It mattered not that the Church in fact affirms that Protestants are Christian, including the ones who call the Church the Whore of Babylon. Virtually everywhere in the mainstream media, the reaction was, “How dare the Church deny that all religions are equal and are all saying the same thing?”

It all reminds me of a Catholic friend of mine who was having a rousing discussion with some Evangelical friends. His friends wanted to affirm how much Catholics and Protestants have in common. We worship the same God, affirm the same teachings of the Ten Commandments, pray the same Lord’s Prayer, read almost exactly the same Bible. “So why can’t we just ignore all that extra theological stuff, stick to the basics, and just be one big family?” they asked.

My friend replied, “Great! Let’s all hike over to Blessed Sacrament parish, worship the Eucharist in the tabernacle, and pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Holy Souls in Purgatory!”

His friends shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. They didn’t believe any of that Catholic stuff.

Precisely—because we’re not all saying the same thing.

The recent document from the CDF says to people who don’t believe all that Catholic stuff, “You don’t believe all that Catholic stuff.” Why on earth anybody should be offended by that is beyond me.

Here’s the key to the CDF document: It’s all about the Eucharist, baby. The Church believes that the Eucharist is the actual Body and Blood of Christ and is what makes a Church a Church. Some Christian bodies (like the Orthodox) believe this as well and are properly called “Churches” in the view of the Catholic Church, even when they are not in communion with Rome. (So it’s rubbish to say that the Catholic Church says it’s the “only real Church”).

Other Christian bodies, though truly Christian, do not have a valid Eucharist, don’t pretend to, and often don’t even want to. They are often full of deeply loving, good, and profoundly Christian people who often put Catholics to shame with their faith, hope and charity. But such bodies are not Churches but “ecclesial bodies” because they lack a valid Eucharist.

If you are tempted to say, “Well, I don’t believe any of that!” I can only reply that I am mystified why it is an act of bold independence and courage for a non-Catholic to say, “I don’t believe all that Catholic stuff” but an act of stifling authoritarianism and arrogance for the Church to say, “Right. You don’t. But we do.”

(Psst: Irish! Of course someone who disagrees with us is going to say "claimed authority of the pope". That's what "disagrees with us" means. DM is a vigorous, devout, and staightforward defender of his bizarre cultic religious convictions invovling latern-jawed men with Scottish or Geneva accents in black gowns gathering in dark conventicles around the sacred itty-bitty glass of grape juice. (Okay. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little.)You can rely on him not to monkey around but to call 'em like he sees 'em)

What we got here (try this suggestion) is so radical a difference in ecclesiology that we can't even agree what the difference is. I love it!

I understand Shea to say that because we filthy papists acknowledge the "churchiness" of the "Orthodox" therefore, at least functionally, the obvious distinguishing mark is the sacrament. The "Orthodox" got it, but you ain't got it - and don't even want it. So that makes it the "flag" or whatever.

It seems to me he can't believe that with great theological rigor. If an Arian showed up and said "Oh yes, we believe in the real presence and all that; we just don't believe Jesus is Divine," My guess is Shea would say, "Oh yeah, that too."

But you, DM, are saying that for YOU, the real deal is that we have a notion of what I propose we call "authoritative revelation" which differs profoundly from the "protestant" notion.

It's kind of a version of the word v. sacrament controversy that also divides us! Shea is saying we're apart because of a difference about THE sacrament, and you're saying we're apart because of a difference about "authoritative revelation" or "the Word".

What made me cheer for Shea was not so much the Sacrament as the only opinion which divides us but his presentation of the problem that it seems that if a bunch of people say,"The RCs are wrong," that's considered a good thing, while if the RC's say, "Well, no actually, we think you're wrong," that's considered the Nazi Pope dragging the Church back into the dark ages and "hyper-denominationalism" and blah blah. And his, I thought, appropriate trashification of the "Can't we all just get along" side of ecumenism by saying that adoring the sacrament aor asking Mary for intercessions for the "poor souls in Purgatory", quite expectedly and unremarkably gives our protestant brethren the heebie-jeebies.

Mirabile dictu is it almost tolerable outside this evening. It has been vicious!

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