well I just read the most recent Pew
Forum study of religion and sometimes
they wonder why I read these things
because the news again is pretty bad and
I would say this it confirms a lot of my
own intuitions the last many years what
I'm talking about here is this recent
study of Catholic belief around the
Eucharist now any Catholic worth his
salt or her salt knows this is a central
teaching of Catholicism but Jesus is
really truly and substantially present
under the forms of bread and wine right
it's a it's a basic tenet of Catholicism
the Pew Forum study revealed that
overall seventy five percent of
Catholics mind you not not just anyone
out in the street seventy five percent
of Catholics think the Eucharist is a
nice symbol of Jesus now go to the
younger cohort forty and younger it now
goes up to eighty percent think that the
the Eucharist is a nice symbol of Jesus
well you know came right to my mind like
one of my heroes Flannery O'Connor of
course when it was proposed to her oh
the Eucharist is a lovely symbol she
said well if it's only a symbol I say
the hell with it and that's a very good
way to sum up the Catholic attitude
toward the Eucharist if it's only a
symbol why bother
I mean you and I can come up with a
symbol of Abraham Lincoln or a symbol
for that matter of Jesus you know if we
want to big deal what central to
Catholicism is the claim that Jesus is
really truly and substantially present
okay that to me should be a commonplace
affirm throughout the tradition affirmed
up to the Catechism of you know 1993
central to the Catholic faith
seventy-five percent of our own people
don't believe it as I've been saying for
a long time it represents a massive
failure and I include myself in this
what we're all guilty a massive failure
on the part of Catholic educators and
catechists evangelists teachers I don't
know any way to say it nicely but if on
this central matter of our belief and
practice there's this much deep
misunderstanding something is gone
substantially wrong now
here's the other thing and I have been
top of this recently a lot there are
those in the church today and I just
think it's so stupid that want to drive
a wedge between apologetics or
catechesis or the intellectual on the
one hand and then you know being
friendly and reaching out to people on
the other well just do that and we'll be
great and you know all its apologetics
intellectual stuff that's all beside the
point
yeah tell me about it how's that worked
out for us how's that little strategy
and trust me I grew up with it I know
all about it
go back to the 1960s and 70s when I was
a kid it was all about let's be nice and
let's reach out and oh don't worry about
books and ideas and all that well what
we're seeing is the bitter fruit of it
that's what happens when you utter Leigh
Brackett the apologetic the catechetical
the intellectual you get 75% of our own
people don't believe a central teaching
of our faith and so I would say again
I'm blaming myself bishops priests
everybody don't write me letters and say
oh you're picking on catechist we're all
guilty okay but it's been a massive
failure on the part of the church
carrying on its own tradition here's the
other thing too that strikes me is again
I grew up with this church and it's it's
making a comeback now my suspicion is a
lot of people might say oh well you know
who cares if people don't believe in the
real presence as long as they're
committed you know to the poor or
they're committed as social justice
isn't that what really matters well of
course that's a Content ISM as I've said
many times that's a reduction of
religion to morality which is repugnant
to Catholicism caring for the poor is an
essential aspect of the church's life
but it's not the whole of the church's
life but but more to it look at the
truly great figures in our tradition who
care for the poor go back to Vincent
DePaul come up through Mother Teresa and
Dorothy Day look at one of my heroes
Reynold Hillenbrand it was great you
know committed to social justice what do
they have in common all these people
what they have in common is a profound
understanding of and love for the
Eucharist if you line up Dorothy Day
Katharine Drexel Jacques Mary tan
Reynold Hill and branch
depaul in this room and you said hey is
this is the Eucharist a nice symbol of
Jesus they'd go into open rebellion my
point is you take away these key
doctrines and of course the Eucharist is
tied to the divinity of Jesus is tied to
the Incarnation tied to the to the
sacraments into the church and
everything else you take away the
central teachings of our church at the
doctrinal level trust me when I tell you
you will take away eventually the
commitment to the poor that will even as
as quickly as the doctrines have even us
it belongs together as a whole you know
now perhaps you've gathered by now that
I'm rather animated about this because
this to me is it deeply disturbing
statistic and it should be a wake-up
call to all of us and don't listen to
people who want to drive a wedge between
our pastoral you know friendliness to
people and catechesis that's led us
nowhere or those that want to drive a
wedge between doctrine and and the
social work of the church that brings us
nowhere so I think this should be a bit
of a wake-up call and should be a you
know a call to action on the part of
everybody in the church