Abandon Eucharistic doctrine, dissidents urge Synod

Catholic World News service reported on October 4, 2005, that the international dissident movement "We Are Church" is issuing an appeal to the Catholic bishops, gathered in Rome for the current Eucharistic Synod, to confront what the dissidents call the "real" problems relating to the Eucharist. At an October 4 press conference in Rome, the dissident group called for reconsideration of the key Catholic doctrine on the transubstantiation, an end to the "hierarchical monopoly" on the sacraments, and approval of shared communion with other Christian denominations. The article, entitled "Abandon Eucharistic doctrine, dissidents urge Synod," reported:

Three leaders of the international movement-- Martha Heizer of Austria, Gigi De Paoli of Italy, and Norbert Scholl of Germany-- said that the Synod was likely to prove a "missed opportunity" because the bishops begin their deliberations on the basis of a working document that affirms Catholic dogmatic teachings on the Eucharist. We Are Church argued that all such teachings should be open to question.

Specifically, the dissident group called for abandoning the notion that the Eucharist is a sacrifice, and instead saying that the mass is "in memory of the entire life of Jesus." The group called for "full freedom of philosophical and theological interpretation of that mystery." We Are Church argued that the dogma of the transubstantiation-- the teaching that the bread and wine at Mass are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ-- is unacceptable to Protestants, and thus impedes ecumenical unity. The group decried traditional forms of Catholic piety, such as Eucharistic adoration and processions, as tending to make an "idol" of the Blessed Sacrament. (Read more here.)

One thing, at least, can be said in favor of this dissident group: it is refreshingly transparent and candid about its agenda -- which is more than can be said of other dissidents who masquerade as bona fide Catholics, insisting upon their impeccable orthodoxy and fidelity to Catholic tradition, all the while revisioning and reinterpreting that orthodoxy by a de-naturing hermeneutic that would leave it unrecognizable by any canon of that tradition. The latter may be more insideous than the former on that account; and we've been warned of wolves in sheep's clothing. But either way, we're faced with self-professed "Catholics" who wish to dismantle the Faith and remake it over in their own image. Caveat emptor.

Eucharistic adoration and processions would indeed make an "idol" of the Blessed Sacrament if the Sacrament were nothing but bread. That is why the 16th-century Protestants called such Catholic devotions "bread worship." And that is why the Latin words of consecration in the Mass -- "Hoc est ... corpus meum" --slipped over in the Protestant imagination into "Hocus Pocus" to become the equivalent of superstition. On the other hand, if Catholic teaching is true, this is no mere bread, but the Bread of Heaven, Christ Himself -- in which case nothing short of worship and adoration would be blasphemous. "Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes et simplices sicut columbae." (Evangelium Secundum Matthaeum 10:16)