Big Surprize! - NOT!!!!! Fr. McBrien Doesn't Like Eucharistic Adoration

Fr. Richard McBrien got wind of Perpetual Adoration being restarted at St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in Boston. & he wasn't happy about it. So he decided to put his 2 cents in about it. & naturally he does so in the 1 newspaper that will accept his criticism without question, the National Catholic Reporter. (Or as I like to call it, the Non-Catholic Reporter.)

Anyhow, after rightly correcting a couple of very minor things that the Boston Globe erred on he launches into his attack, starting with the doctrine of transubstantiation.

He says: "It was also unfortunate that Paulson described the Catholic belief in the Real Presence (a technical theological and doctrinal term that did not appear in the story) as a "literal" transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus during Mass. The transformation (the medieval word was "transubstantiation") is sacramental, not literal or physical." Note that he is contrasting sacramental with literal & physical.

After sort explaining that the accidentals remain (appearance, taste, smell, etc) he repeats what he said earlier: "Thus, the bread and wine may still appear to be bread and wine, but in the course of the Eucharistic Prayer (formerly called the Canon of the Mass) they have been changed sacramentally, not literally or physically, into the body and blood of Christ."

Compare that to what the Council of Trent said. The Council of Trent defined transubstantiation as "that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood – the species only of the bread and wine remaining – which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation". Sounds to me like that bread & wine are literally the physical Body & Blood of Christ. It strikes me that his setting up the contrast is his attempt to undermine the doctrine of the Real Presence. It also sounds to me like he is trying to twist the definition of "sacramental" to mean something less than it really does. If I had to hazzard a guess, I would say that he uses the word "sacramental" to mean symbolic, not literal transformation.

Then he goes on to talk about devotional excesses. he starts out with a valid one (scratch a host & it will bleed.*) & then goes on to attack what he sees as excesses but aren't. This is leading up to his attack on Eucharistic adoration as something no longer needed.

After making the questionable claim that the practice of eucharistic adoration began in the 12th century he goes on to say how it "drifted further and further away from its liturgical grounding in the Mass itself". While there is some truth that there were some excesses, no way did it ever totally lose its grounding in the Mass.

After getting a dig in at Pope Benedict XVI for his support of it (I thing he is still POed that his prediction that Cardinal Ratzinger would never be elected Pope was proven wrong. Fr. McBrien was hoping for someone who would be more open to his heretical views rather that someone who would uphold orthodoxy on word & deed.) he goes on to admit how much he hates the idea. He says: " it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today."

He follows with: "Now that most Catholics are literate and even well-educated, the Mass is in the language of the people (i.e, the vernacular), and its rituals are relatively easy to understand and follow, there is little or no need for extraneous eucharistic devotions. The Mass itself provides all that a Catholic needs sacramentally and spiritually." In other words, only ignorant superstitious fools would be devoted to the Eucharist & want to spend time in its presence outside of Mass.

that is the short version of what he said. The longer version is that he basicly saying that 1 hour of Mass a week is all we need. Well maybe also daily Mass. No more need for daily prayer, the Rosary or any other devotions besides Eucharistic either. & if you do want or need them then you are ignorant, not a part of the smart set like he is that has all this worldly wisdom & thus doesn't need anything else. (We won't go into all the liturgical abuses I am sure he approves of here that would destroy anything sacramental or authenticly spiritual about the Mass here.)

I can't help but think of what St. Paul said about professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Fr. McBrien & his ilk are fine examples of the truth of what St. Paul said.

& naturally, he ends his piece with 1 final dig. "Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward."

IMHO, Eucharistic Adoration growing in poularity is not a step backwards, but a restoration of what should never have been downplayed & attacked by all these "progressive" theologians etc. The reality is, we will be spending eternity in Heaven or Hell. & what happens here on Earth is a time for preperation. & what better way to prepeare for eternally being fully in the presence of Christ than Eucharistic Adoration?

Like I said at the start. Fr. McBrien's attacks on the Eucharist are in keeping with his mindset. Remember he is championing those LCWR orders that are hotbeds of dissidence & heresy. If he had his way, we would have a religion that was Catholic only in its name. & it would not be the Church founded by Jesus either, but another pagan religion that didn't have any sin except that of calling sin sin.

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I doubt if he would ever lower himself to do so, other than to mock it, but I would suggest that he read a book that shows exactly how wrong he is in so many ways, historically & theoligically about Eucharistic Adoration. This book is In the Presence of Our Lord: The History, Theology, and Psychology of Eucharistic (Our Sunday Visitor, March 1997) by Fr. Benedict Groeschel CFR & James Monti (a historian). This book does an excellent job of showing how wrong McBrien & his ilk are.

*I wonder how he would view those Eucharistic miracles where the Host actually has bled?

Source: Needless devotion?