Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national programme called the Eucharistic Revival.

It was not impossible to do both programmes, but as any pastor will tell you, doing two major programmes at once in a parish is very difficult.

It is hard enough to do just one programme while keeping all the other parish activities rolling along.

With a little bit of effort, the two programmes could have complemented each other instead of being in conflict. After all, synodality makes for a better Eucharist, and the Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality.

Both are about communion, participation and mission.

"In its broadest sense," according to the synthesis report from the October 2023 meeting of the synod, "synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity."

"Its orientation is towards mission," says the report, "and its practice involves gathering in assembly at each level of ecclesial life.

"It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions in accordance with their responsibilities."

A central part of the parish and diocesan phase of the synodal process is "conversation in the Spirit," in which participants in groups of 10 listen to each other about issues facing the Church.

The process builds communion and encourages participation in the mission of Jesus.

It is easy to see how this process could translate into participation in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Communion that empowers the Christian community to participate in the mission of Jesus of spreading the good news of the Father's love and our responsibility to love all our brothers and sisters.

But the Eucharistic Revival has a completely different focus.

It is more about Benediction, where the consecrated bread is worshipped, than the Eucharist, where the community is fed.

The impetus for the Eucharistic Revival came from the bishops' fear that the faithful no longer believe in the real presence in the Eucharist.

In fact, many Catholics do not even understand what the Church teaches about it.

Pew Research

According to the Pew Research Center, "More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45 percent) do not know that their Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolise but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Pew found that Catholics believed that the bread and wine were only symbols of Christ's presence.

"Nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,'" according to Pew.

"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

Others, including the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, have challenged Pew's research, but Pew's findings caused a panic among the bishops that resulted in them budgeting $28 million for the Eucharistic Revival, although the budget was later reduced to $14 million.

Benediction vs Eucharist

From its inception, the Eucharistic Revival was about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The revival included Eucharistic processions and Benediction in parishes and dioceses and culminates with a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, where thousands from all over the country are expected to attend.

But, I repeat, the revival is more about Benediction than the Eucharist.

Benediction is all about worshipping Jesus.

The Eucharist is about worshipping the Father and transforming the community into the Body of Christ.

Christ is not made present on the altar table so that we can worship him. He is present so that we can eat him and become what we eat.

The revival focuses on individual rather than community.

• It focuses on me and Jesus rather than the communion of Christians.
• It focuses on what happens to bread and wine rather than what happens to the community.
• It focuses on personal experience rather than mission.

Let me make clear. There is nothing wrong with Benediction, but it is not the Eucharist.

Jesus did not institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper so that we could worship him.

His focus was always on the Father, not himself.

If we listen to the Eucharistic prayer as recited by the priest for the community, we give praise and thanks to the Father for all he has done for us, especially for sending Jesus with the good news of the Father's love and compassion for us.

We pray not to Jesus but "through him, with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit" to the Father.

We remember Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

During the Eucharistic prayer we ask for the Spirit to transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world.

Synodality is about communion, participation and mission; so, too, is the Eucharist.

Too bad the Eucharistic Revival is not.

• First published in RNS
• Thomas J. Reese, SJ is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service

Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national programme called the Eucharistic Revival.

Eucharistic Revival

It was not impossible to do both programmes, but as any pastor will tell you, doing two major programmes at once in a parish is very difficult. It is hard enough to do just one program while keeping all the other parish activities rolling along.

With a little bit of effort, the two programmes could have complemented each other instead of being in conflict.

After all, synodality makes for a better Eucharist, and the Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality.

Both are about communion, participation and mission.

"In its broadest sense," according to the synthesis report from the October 2023 meeting of the synod, "synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity."

"Its orientation is towards mission," says the report, "and its practice involves gathering in assembly at each level of ecclesial life.

It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions in accordance with their responsibilities."

Revival is different from synodality

A central part of the parish and diocesan phase of the synodal process is "conversation in the Spirit".

In this, participants in groups of ten listen to each other about issues facing the Church. The process builds communion and encourages participation in the mission of Jesus.

It is easy to see how this process could translate into participation in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Communion that empowers the Christian community to participate in the mission of Jesus of spreading the good news of the Father's love and our responsibility to love all our brothers and sisters.

But the Eucharistic Revival has a completely different focus. It is more about Benediction, where the consecrated bread is worshipped, than the Eucharist, where the community is fed.

The impetus for the Eucharistic Revival came from the bishops' fear that the faithful no longer believe in the real presence in the Eucharist.

In fact, many Catholics do not even understand what the Church teaches about it.

Research findings

According to the Pew Research Center, "More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45 percent) do not know that their Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolise but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Pew found that Catholics believed that the bread and wine were only symbols of Christ's presence.

"Nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,'" according to Pew.

"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

Others, including the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, have challenged Pew's research.

But Pew's findings caused a panic among the bishops that resulted in them budgeting $28 million for the Eucharistic Revival, although the budget was later reduced to $14 million.

From its inception, the Eucharistic Revival was about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The revival included Eucharistic processions and Benediction in parishes and dioceses and culminates with a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, where thousands from all over the country are expected to attend.

But, I repeat, the revival is more about Benediction than the Eucharist.

Benediction is not Eucharist

Benediction is all about worshipping Jesus.

The Eucharist is about worshipping the Father and transforming the community into the Body of Christ. Christ is not made present on the altar table so that we can worship him. He is present so that we can eat him and become what we eat.

The revival focuses on individual rather than community.

It focuses on me and Jesus rather than the communion of Christians. It focuses on what happens to bread and wine rather than what happens to the community. It focuses on personal experience rather than mission.

Let me make clear.

There is nothing wrong with Benediction, but it is not the Eucharist. Jesus did not institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper so that we could worship him. His focus was always on the Father, not himself.

If we listen to the Eucharistic prayer as recited by the priest for the community, we give praise and thanks to the Father for all he has done for us, especially for sending Jesus with the good news of the Father's love and compassion for us.

We pray not to Jesus but "through him, with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit" to the Father.

We remember Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

During the Eucharistic prayer we ask for the Spirit to transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world.

Synodality is about communion, participation and mission; so, too, is the Eucharist. Too bad the Eucharistic Revival is not.

• First published in RNS
• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS.

If this new study is more accurate, this is good news!

The Pew study asked respondents what they think the Church teaches about the Eucharist and also what they personally believe, using the same question for both.

According to the new study, Catholics misunderstood the wording of the Pew Study, and that's the reason for that study reflecting poorly on Catholics, but not because of their unbelief.

Read More

The poll focused on 14 countries with what Pew calls "advanced economies". It was released in late January.

Of the Americans surveyed, 28 percent said the pandemic had strengthened their own religious faith and the same number said it had strengthened the faith of people in their country.

At the same time, however, 68 percent said their own faith had not changed much, while 47 percent said the faith of other Americans had stayed about the same.

The other countries Pew surveyed were: Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The countries closest to the United States in reporting increases in faith were Spain and Italy.

In Spain, 16 percent of respondents said the pandemic had strengthened their faith and 17 percent said it had strengthened the faith of other Spaniards. In Italy, 15 percent said it had strengthened their own faith and 19 percent said it had strengthened the faith of other Italians.

Across all 14 countries surveyed, the median was 10 percent saying the pandemic had strengthened their own faith, while 15 percent said it had strengthened the faith of people in their country.

The only country of those surveyed that registered single digit increases to each question was Japan. Just five percent said it had strengthened their own faith and five percent said it had strengthened the faith of people in their country.

In South Korea, however, 9 percent said the pandemic had weakened people's faith. Compared to the 10 percent who said the pandemic had strengthened their faith, the pandemic resulted in a net positive increase in faith of just one percent.

The only country with as small a net gain as South Korea was Sweden. There, three percent said the virus had strengthened their faith and two percent said it had weakened it.

Family bonds have strengthened during the pandemic, Pew found.

In Spain, 42 percent reported stronger family bonds, while America, Britain Kingdom and Italy registered 41 percent. Yet even in those countries, a higher percentage of respondents said that had not changed much, either.

Regardless of nation, people with lower incomes reported stronger faith than those with higher incomes.

In the United States, 34 percent of respondents with lower incomes said their faith had been strengthened because of COVID as against 22 percent with higher incomes.

Asked whether Americans' responses represented a pause in the nation's continuing slide toward secularization, a Pew spokesperson said: "I wouldn't go that far. One thing is pretty clear, that in the last few years in the United States, there is a secularization trend — more people saying they have no religion, and a fall in the faith of the people who say they are observant."

Source

• Angelus
• Image: UCA News

The survey, released Monday by the Pew Research Center, revealed a gaping "God gap" between relatively rich and poor countries.

In Kenya, for example, the country with the lowest gross domestic product per capita in the survey, 95% of people said belief in God is necessary for a person to be moral.

In Sweden, the richest country, just 9% of people connected God with good morals. (The survey did not break down respondents by religion.)

Even within countries, the rich and poor don't agree on God and morality, the survey said.

In the United States, to take one example, there is a gap of 24 percentage points between high and low income Americans. The poor were much more likely to say belief in God is necessary to be good.

"People in the emerging economies included in this survey tend to be more religious and more likely to consider religion to be important in their lives," wrote the authors of the study.

Pew's study seems to lend weight to the secularization thesis: the idea that nations become less religious as their people get richer and more educated.

For decades, the United States defied this theory by being both rich and religious. But even that is changing, according to a number of other studies.

In 2002, 58% of Americans said belief in God is necessary to be good. In 2019, that number slipped to 44%.

Religion remains a powerful force in the life of people around the world, including the United States. A majority of people in 23 of the 34 countries survey said religion is "very" or "somewhat" important to them. In the United States nearly half — 47% — called it "very important." Continue reading

Catholic leaders and scholars say this presents particular challenges for passing on the faith and building the Catholic community.

Last month's Pew Research Center analysis revealed millennials are slower than previous generations to build their own households. Most choose to delay marriage and childbearing.

Only 30 percent live with a spouse and their own child, over half are unmarried and those who do marry, do so much later in life.

Millennial women are less likely to give birth, compared to previous generations.

Professor Christian Smith of the University of Notre Dame says the research shows Catholic millennials' family life is similar to other people of their generation.

"American religion and American family are closely connected. If people are not engaging in family formation, if they're delaying that or never having families, they're going to be much less likely to be involved in the Church."

"All of these social changes are connected to a weakening of parish life."

Smith says parishes are based on rootedness, a sense of place, continuity and community.

He endorses Pew's finding that increasingly and generationally, "there's more transience, less commitment, and that leads to less rootedness."

Even if parishes adapt, a "core group of people" who are willing to stay and offer the typical parish services of a parish is still needed.

Smith thinks most Church leaders and their congregations know this, but demographic and cultural forces driven by economic and technological changes make this difficult.

While new programming can help, the ultimate factor will be parents who are intentionally involved in their children's formation and model what they want their children to practise.

The Archdiocese of Portland's director of Marriage and Family Life agrees the Pew analysis rings true of Catholic millennials.

"Marriage tends to be the cherry on top after you get everything else established."

When it comes to connecting young people to a parish, he says while better programming is always desired, ultimately it comes down to relationships. In some ways it goes back to Jesus "who hung out with a group of guys, went camping and fishing, and shared life together."

If young people feel the parish offers authentic connections, they will be more inclined to stay, invest and perhaps consider pursuing the Catholic vision of marriage and family life.

Sister Patricia Wittberg, of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, cautions most data is limited to middle or upper class white individuals.

People used to fall away from religious practice in their late teens, get married in their mid twenties have children a year or two later, and then start going back to church, she says.

Today's millennials are not getting married or having children until their mid-thirties.

"And this presents serious challenges where we're still trying to figure out how to respond."

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Pinterest

The January survey canvassed 1,503 Americans.

Twenty percent of those surveyed are Catholic.

The survey found a third of respondents think Pope Francis is "too liberal" while one-quarter considered him "too naïve".

Just under half think he is doing a "poor" or "middling" job in handling clergy sexual abuse scandals.

Conservative Catholics reported they are increasingly concerned about his reforms and vision for the Catholic Church.

While Francis has won public acclaim for living in the Vatican guesthouse instead of the Apostolic Palace and washing the feet of Muslim inmates during Holy Week, these gestures were not the focus for many of those surveyed.

People are now "looking at what he has really changed in the church," says John Thavis, author of "The Vatican Diaries" and former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service.

"He does have his share of critics, but he still has an awful lot of support among mainstream Catholics."

At the same time, Catholics are increasingly polarised about the actions Francis has taken as Pope.

Since 2014, the share of Catholic Republicans who say Francis represents a "major, positive change" for the church declined from 60 percent to 37 percent.

Similarly, the number of American Catholics who view Francis as "too liberal" (34 percent) or "naive" (24 percent) has multiplied dramatically during the past three years.

Pew's study helps define the small but growing anti-Francis movement.

Conservatives have criticized the Pope for saying of gay people, "Who am I to judge?" and for opening a path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion. Others argue Francis has created confusion about Catholic teachings.

Over six in 10 say he has helped make the church more accepting of homosexuality, while 17 percent say they would like to see him do less in that area. Eleven percent say they do not want Francis to make the church more accepting of divorce and remarriage.

Twenty-two percent of Americans identified as Catholic in 2012, before Francis' election, and 20 percent did the same in 2017.

Mass attendance has stayed steady over the same period, with about four in 10 Catholics reporting weekly attendance.

Source

• CNN
• La Croix
• Image: MG Africa

The Pew Research Centre global survey, released Friday, however shows most of the rest of the world seems to love him.

A charmer of global opinion since he was elected pontiff last year, he has championed causes such as modern slavery, human trafficking, rights of migrants and economic justice.

Most recently he said the Catholic Church must find ways of welcoming divorced and remarried couples, and homosexuals.

On Friday, at morning Mass, Francis told the congregation that God was like a mother, he loves us unconditionally, saying, God is not into spiritual book-keeping.

The goodwill the Holy Father enjoys is felt most in Europe, where he enjoys an 84% favourable rating.

Francis, recently described Europe as "haggard", like a tired "grandmother" and called on it to recover its founding values, in part built on its Christian legacy.

He is least favoured in the Middle-East where the Pew global study rated him with only a 24% favourable and 25% unfavourable rating. 41% in the Middle-East gave him no rating.

The Pew global study interviewed more than 40,000 people in 43 countries and the Holy Father achieved a 60% median favourable rating in the surveyed countries.

The global research reached down as far as Indonesia in the antipodes where Francis attained 31% favourable and only 12% unfavourable ratings. 57% gave him no rating.

Pope Francis' received most "no rating" in Indonesia, India (61%), Malaysia (76%), Pakistan (85%), Palestine territory (63%), Turkey (54%), Tunisia (71%), Senegal (55%) and South Africa (52%).

Sources

• Pew Global Research (Twitter)
• Pew Research Global Attitudes Project
• Washington Post
• Image: L'Osservatore Romano

According to a new Pew Research study, 41 per cent of those surveyed said a candidate's lack of belief didn't matter to their vote.

This was up from a figure of 32 per cent seven years ago.

But the research also showed atheists are the most mistrusted group in the US and a godless politician is the least likely candidate to win votes in a presidential election.

Pot smokers and philanderers were considered more favourably than atheists. Continue reading

Hispanic donors are the group most likely to have increased their giving.

Continue reading

An analysis of reporting during a period when the issue was before the US Supreme Court found that stories predominantly supporting same-sex marriage outweighed those predominantly opposing it by 5-1.

This result did not match public opinion on the issue, with Pew research showing that same-sex marriage was supported by 51 per cent of the public and opposed by 42 per cent.

The study found that bias was present in news stories as well as opinion pieces and across all media sectors.

All three of the major cable networks, including Fox News, had more stories with significantly more supportive statements than opposing.

Huffington Post was perhaps the most biased mainstream written-news outlet, with 62 per cent of stories supporting same-sex marriage and only 7 per cent opposing it. Huffington Post's coverage showed similar support to that of the gay community's news outlets studied.

But Twitter postings on the subject were nearly evenly split between support and opposition for same-sex marriage, aligning much more closely with public opinion than with the news media.

On Twitter that margin was even thinner: 31 percent of tweets supported gay marriage, 28 percent opposed it and 42 percent of tweets were deemed neutral.

Two publications the Pew study singled out for their restraint were USA Today (67 per cent neutral) and the Wall Street Journal (70 per cent neutral).

In the coverage studied, Pew said the central argument among proponents of same-sex marriage was one of civil rights. Arguments against were more varied, but most often voiced the idea that same-sex marriage would hurt society and the institution of traditional marriage.

Pew concluded: "The findings show how same-sex marriage supporters have had a clear message and succeeded in getting that message across all sectors of mainstream media."

Sources:

Journalism.org

Deseret News

Zenit

Image: Media Research Center

'I believe we have a duty to leave the world a better place than we found it,' says Miliband. 'I believe we cannot shrug our shoulders at injustice and just say 'that's the way the world is and I believe that we can overcome any odds if we come together as people.'

The second son of Jewish refugees who came to Britain during World War II, Miliband expresses his search for justice outside of synagogue and void of God language or religious story. A bit like the one in six American Jews who are now called The Unaffiliated by a study reported in tabletmag.com.

Being unaffiliated is on the rise worldwide. The latest Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life indicates that around 20% of Americans have no religious affiliation (the highest percentages in Pew Research Centre polling) although many still consider themselves religious or spiritual in some way. Read more

Sources

• spirited crone/Sande Ramage
• Image: The Guardian

Sande Ramage is an Anglican priest and blogger.