Eucharist: Source and summit of faith

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Sept. 27, 2007

Two Benedictine monks from St. Meinrad Archabbey helped parishioners in the Diocese of Sioux City take a fresh and deeper look at the Eucharist and the makeup of the church community.

Father Godfrey Mullen and Father Denis Robinson were the keynote speakers at the Diocesan Ministries Conference, held Sept. 23 and 24 in Spencer. The theologians presented a morning session on the Eucharist and during the afternoon focused on the church community and what motivates young people in the church today.

Prior to introducing the monks from Indiana, Bishop R. Walker Nickless thanked those gathered for attending, for their love of the church and for their "willingness to grow in their faith and their understanding of the Eucharist."

He said when Pope Benedict XVI referred to the Eucharist as the "sacrament of love," it was a good reminder that the Eucharist is a person - not an event or thing.

Some highlights of the sessions:

THE EUCHARIST: SESSION 1

Father Denis discussed some recent church documents to help people understand how the church and Eucharist relate to one another. Summorum Pontificum, by Pope Benedict XVI, relates to the differences between the "old Mass and new Mass." He also discussed Responsa ad Questiones (A Response to Questions concerning certain aspects of the doctrine of the church), by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

He said if people only heard about these documents from the secular press, they might misinterpret their true message.

The monk gave a little history on the reasoning behind the updated liturgy that came about in 1970 as a result of Vatican II and then said the real question of the pope's new document centered on the question: Is there a real difference between the old Mass and new Mass?

Father Denis said the key to understanding that document is that the old and new Mass are "not substantially" different. Ultimately, it does not matter which Mass is celebrated provided the Mass is celebrated well.

In relation to the Response to Questions document, he focused on Question #5, which asks: What makes the church?

"The congregation said according to 'our Catholic doctrine, the essence of the church is genuine and intrical substance of the Eucharistic mystery.' In other words, the Eucharist makes the church," said Father Denis. "If there is no Eucharist, there is no church."

He offered Biblical evidence - Luke 24:13-35, Acts Chapter 2 and John Chapter 6 - as support for the concept that the Eucharist makes the church. He talked about various theologians who addressed the topic of the Eucharist such as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is Pope Benedict.

"What happens when we receive Communion?" asked Father Denis. "Christ lives in us. The reality of the Body and Blood of Christ that comes to us on the altar inhabits us and because Christ is all in all - we live in each other ... and we share in the life of Christ."

He said the Eucharist prolongs the life of Christ on earth.

Father Denis stressed the importance of celebrating Mass well with quality music and textual purity. If texts are changed, he warned that it might lead to problems with belief.

Father Godfrey began his portion of the presentation with a joke: What's the difference between a liturgist and terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist.

He referred to the theme of the conference - The Eucharist: The Community and the Mission of the Church.

"It's crucial for us to realize that when we talk about the Body of Christ, it's important for us to realize that that phrase means different things - all of which are intimately related. Sometimes it means bread and wine that become body and blood. Sometimes it means an assembly of believers who have come together to pray and sing and be converted by the Holy Spirit more vividly into that body and blood," said Father Godfrey.

He told the audience to reflect upon their own experience of Mass and asked them how they would respond if someone asked them to describe in 10 words or less what it was that they encountered when they gathered in parish or school community for Mass.

Some of the responses were: community, the living Christ, holiness, seeing Christ in other people, love.

The speaker told them that Sacramentum Caritatis, the apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, reminds people that the Eucharist is the sacrament of love.

"Pope Benedict talks about the Eucharist being the food of truth," said Father Godfrey. "In this sacrament, Jesus shows us in particular the truth about love, which is the very essence of God."

The pope called the Eucharist the source and the summit of the church and Father Godfrey added that the Eucharist was the beginning and the goal of all that the church does.

"Pope Benedict is urging us to Eucharistic enthusiasm and fervor," said Father Godfrey. "How is it that we promote it, how is it that we show it, how is it that we live it?"

The speaker mentioned that the pope's document on the Eucharist has three main parts: a mystery to be believed, a mystery to be celebrated and a mystery to be lived.

Father Godfrey called the Eucharist a supreme act of love and "a definitive deliverance from evil for all people. What gratitude we ought to have for that deliverance."

He also discussed the sacramental aspect of the Eucharist and how it relates to the other sacraments.

THE CHURCH COMMUNITY: SESSION 2

The second session focused on the generational issues faced by the church today.

St. Meinrad recently did a study on older and younger Catholics and found the need to help the younger generation build community within the parishes and schools, said Father Denis.

He stressed the fact that young people are not the future of the church - they are the church.

"The young people in the church today are calling us old farts to conversion," said the 45-year-old monk.

The study found younger people look for four qualities in the practice of the faith.

1) Distinctive Catholic identity - sacramental identity, saints, confidence in papacy.

2) Charismatic - an emotional response to the faith, it must touch their heart.

3) Culture - must have a material identity, tied to orthodoxy.

4) Community - seek community with like values and common activities.

Through their research, he said they discovered there were three groups of Catholics.

The Guardians

They are typically 65-plus and were educated through the Baltimore Catechism.

"They have a culturally-laden culture," said Father Denis.

The Guardians are ideologically negative - memorized lessons from catechism and didn't debate much. They are motivated to keep traditions and react against change.

"The key motivators of this generation were commitment to a tradition, to a heritage; they were obedient and ultimately conformed to the church's image," he said.

The Power Base

These individuals are usually 45-65 and they hold many leadership positions today.

"This is a group that was formed either during or directly after the Second Vatican Council," said Father Denis. "Sociologically they have different characteristics and they carry those characteristics into their church and identity."

Unlike their parents, he noted, this generation are talkers and debaters. That becomes their way of getting into the faith.

"They want to have an open discussion about everything. They want to discern everything," he said.

The Power Base can be suspicious of institutions. They are often motivated by peace, justice, open-mindedness and change.

The New Faithful

This group is under 45 and they are culturally positive and ideologically positive.

"They will do service all day long - but you better have adoration to go along with it," said Father Denis.

The New Faithful are motivated by meaning, but react against abstractions. They like orthodoxy, commitment, concreteness, tradition and answers.

He pointed out that The New Faithful have more in common with their grandparents, The Guardians, than they do with their parents. There is often tension and a lack of understanding between The New Faithful and The Power Base.

When The New Faithful and The Power Base identified qualities of the other group - the only characteristic that overlapped was arrogant. Both groups thought the other was arrogant.

The younger Catholics want opportunities to belong - such as in Bible studies and when attend such groups they want direction from an expert opinion rather than generalizations.

Father Denis said that there are two types groups of younger people in the church today: 1) those who are more conservative and 2) "those who are gone."

With that in mind, he said the church must find ways to listen to the voices of young Catholics so their needs, ideas and wisdom can be heard.

Questions and answers

After the two sessions, there was a 40-minute Question and Answer exchange. Conference-goers submitted questions and the monks answered them. Here are some examples of the questions and responses.

Is it proper to hold hands during the Our Father?

"To my knowledge there is nothing that prohibits it," replied Father Denis. "The bishops of our country took up the topic and no mandate was given one way or the other."

Can you receive Holy Communion with gum in your mouth?

"Don't," was his one-word response.

Can words of readings be changed for children?

Father Denis said the words are not supposed to be changed, but there is a Children's Lectionary that may be used.

What can you do about priests who change words in the Mass?

While priests are not supposed to change the words, Father Denis cautioned the people in their response.

"The moment we start assuming that priests are doing what they are doing liturgically out of malice, then we are so far off the path that we are in trouble," he said. "What the church absolutely doesn't need is more liturgical critics."

The church needs people who will pray well in the liturgy and priests who will offer the liturgy the way the church expects them to, said the speaker.

When the "militia" appears in this parish or that, Father Denis said they better be "extremely sure about what they are saying before they go accusing people."

He said a person can approach the priest respectfully, in the appropriate time and place and then ask him why he did or said what he did.

Can skits be used in place of the homily?

Since the ordained are supposed to preach the Gospel, Father Godfrey said the answer was no, unless they could talk a group of priests and deacons into doing a skit.

Why can't non-Catholics receive Communion?

"When we receive Communion, it says that we are one, we are unified. We are one body - we believe, think and act in the same way," explained Father Godfrey.

If a non-Catholic were to receive Communion, he said it would mean that they wanted to be a part of the Catholic Church.

On Sunday, the day concluded with vespers and on Monday, it concluded with the Liturgy of the Hours.