Letters

Eucharistic confusion

John Royal

Contents - Dec 2011 - Buy a copy now Homily: Benedict XVI: From his Christmas homily - Pope Benedict XVI Ad Limina Visit: Australia's Bishops reaffirm their unity with Benedict XVI - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Vocations: Do not be afraid: successful Young Men of God retreat - Dr Barry Coldrey Youth Events: iWitness Retreat and Campion Summer Program Religious freedom: The plight of Christians in Islamic countries - Babette Francis Schools: St Philomena's school: a beacon of excellence - Alistair Barros Religious education: Different worlds: being Catholic in Indonesia and Australia - Phillip Turnbull Tyburn world tour: A visually compelling new documentary on the monastic life - AD2000 Report Pilgrimage: Young disabled Catholics: new ministry initiative - Fr James McCarthy Catholic Literature: Robert Hugh Benson and Christ's Second Coming - Br Christian Moe FSC Summorum Pontificum: Latin Mass in Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral - Michael Daniel Letters: Homeschooling - Matthew Buckley Letters: Eucharistic confusion - John Royal Letters: Atheism - Paul Fitzgerald Letters: Vatican II - Peter Howard Letters: Natural law - Thomas A. Watkin Letters: Devotion to Mary - Cedric Wright Letters: Action needed - Dick Nolan Events: Advent and Christmas Liturgies - Extraordinary Form Books: WHY WE SHOULD CALL OURSELVES CHRISTIANS, by Marcello Pera - Elizabeth Lev (reviewer) Books: RONALD KNOX AND ENGLISH CATHOLICISM, by Terry Tastard - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Donations: Fighting Fund concludes Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Advent faith, Christmas and the Pope's call to evangelise - Fr Dennis Byrnes

In taking as written the comments of Michael Apthorp (September AD2000) on the editorial of Fr Tom Elich ( Liturgy News, June 2011), one is entitled to ask of Dr Elich: "If one is not actually receiving Jesus when one receives Communion, what exactly is one receiving?" I suspect that no clear response (if any) would eventuate.

Dr Elich, it seems, is capable of very expansive reasoning and has no difficulty in asserting that his conclusions on the Blessed Sacrament are superior to that of 2000 years of Catholic tradition and the reasoned defence of Catholic apologists.

It apparently has not occurred to him that in causing confusion or doubt he is not unlike a certain serpent all those years ago. Nor perhaps has it occurred to him that while he is free to believe as he chooses, he is not free to present as Catholic that which is not Catholic. This would violate the first principles of thinking.

Has it ever occurred to those with the "modernist" mindset that their innovations may have actually driven many out of the Church or discouraged others from attending Sunday Mass? (Nature's cuckoo bird is very adept in this regard).

However one thing can be said of those with such a mindset is that they are consistent and see their view of things as clearly as they see the circle of the moon at night on which Chesterton commented in Orthodoxy, "For the moon is utterly reasonable and the moon is the mother of lunatics and has given to them all her name" (page 21).

May it be only the Holy Spirit who guides us and may St Michael guard and protect us.

JOHN ROYAL
Bundaberg West, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 24 No 11 (December 2011 - January 2012), p. 14