[mike182d]

And believe me, it's not literal, either.

Yes, it is.

Anyone who is remotely familiar with Scripture and Jesus' parables know that He often had to explain what He meant - people didn't simply understand. He would be frustrated sometimes, but when He used an allegory or a metaphor that people confused, He would clarify for them or for the Apostles. You will find no such clarification in John 6. In fact, you find the exact opposite. Jesus says that you must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life and the Jews simply don't understand and our disgusted by this. They say "you can't be serious?" and how does Jesus respond? He doesn't explain, elaborate, nada. In fact, He reinforces what He said when its questioned by saying, "Amen, amen, I say to you..."

So, in other words, people who question the Eucharist are no different from the Jews in John 6 and when you stand here saying "pfft! How can this be? You're not serious?" Christ isn't going to say "Yeah, you're right." He's going to respond exactly how He responded to the Jews by saying "Amen, amen, I say to you..."

Furthermore, the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has been believed for 2000 years. It wasn't till after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century that people disagreed. Do Protestants know something that 1500 years of Christians did not?

[RoadTest]

I'm appalled, but not surprised, at the ignorance of Catholics about their own religion.

I used to be one, though by birth, not by choice. I, too, was ignorant of Catholicism and got all huffy when someone questioned it.

These false doctrines weren't believed even by Catholics for several centuries, but were added at long intervals and then made dogma. If any of you Catholics believe that these dogmas like infallibility and transubstantiation go back to the beginning you had better check your history. They came along much later.