Sir, - In a reflection on Corpus Christi signed by "M.C." (Thinking Anew, June 24th), the Eucharist is presented as a means of promoting unity between different Christian Churches. The writer adds that for most people today, the arguments between Catholics and Protestants about the Eucharist are merely "theological hair-splitting" and urges that unity between churches should now be promoted by their sharing the Eucharist together.
In Catholic teaching and tradition, Eucharistic Communion is inseparable from Church Communion and is the expression of that unity. It is the sacrament of those who are in full communion in Christ's Church. Far from being mere "theological hair-splitting", there are substantial differences between Catholics and Protestants. These concern among others the identity of the Church, the sacrificial nature of the Mass, transubstantiation and the Catholic belief that, after the consecration, divine honour and worship should now be given to Christ present under the appearance of bread and wine.
In his 1965 encyclical Mysterium Fidei), Pope Paul VI quoted what Pope Gregory VII said in 1079, that after the Consecration "there is present the true Body of Christ which was born of the Virgin and, offered up for the salvation of the world, hung on the Cross and now sits at the right hand of the Father, and that there is present the true Blood of Christ which flowed from his side". What is now present is no longer bread and wine or some symbol or sign but Christ Himself. How could the Catholic Church, which believes this as an article of faith, share the Eucharist with those who don't?
The Feast of Corpus Christi derives from this faith. It is said to have been prompted by the "miracle of Bolsena". A priest from Prague was sceptical about the doctrine of transubstantiation. On his way home from a pilgrimage to Rome in 1262, he celebrated Mass at Bolsena. As he held up the host after the Consecration, drops of blood fell from it on to the corporal. That corporal can still be viewed at the nearby Cathedral Church of Orvieto. - Yours, etc.,
Rev Michael Manning, Millstreet, Co Cork.