Posted on 10/15/2024 3:15:21 PM PDT by ebb tide
The largest survey of U.S. Catholics ever conducted shows that the faithful want reverent, solemn worship and an end to distributing Holy Communion in the hand and the use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
On Tuesday, the Real Presence Coalition (RPC) released the results of its massive July 2024 survey seeking to identify causes of a lack of faith in the Eucharist among many self-professed Catholics in the United States.
The survey, conducted with assistance from the national polling firm Public Opinion Strategies, received nearly 16,000 responses, including from 14,725 U.S. lay Catholics across every Latin diocese in the country. 780 responses were submitted by attendees of the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.
“This is the single largest survey of Catholics ever undertaken in the United States,” said RPC spokesperson Vicki Yamasaki. “Surveys from organizations such as Pew Research and Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) come nowhere close to the number of Catholics participating in this survey.”
Notably, the RPC survey drew heavily upon practicing Catholics, with 97 percent of respondents saying that they attend Mass at least once a week and believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Most respondents, 84 percent, identified themselves as Catholics “from infancy.”
Asked what has contributed most to loss of faith in the Eucharist, respondents overwhelmingly cited reception of Holy Communion in the hand while standing, with nearly 58 percent saying it has had the “greatest” level of impact.
hey also pointed to the scandal of offering Holy Communion to public sinners who reject Catholic teaching, lack of reverence in the presence of the Eucharist, casual attitudes toward the Eucharist from clergy, failure to catechize the faithful, and moving the tabernacle away from the center of the sanctuary.
More than 71 percent of respondents ranked “homosexuality in the priesthood” as having a “major” or “greatest” level of impact on the decline of belief in the Eucharist as well.
A majority also said that the use of extraordinary ministers, replacement of sacred music with contemporary music, ending ad orientem worship, removing altar rails, failing to hold Eucharistic events like adoration and processions, the decline of beauty in church architecture and liturgy, loss of silence, and the clerical abuse crisis have had “major” or “greatest” impact.
They also pointed to the scandal of offering Holy Communion to public sinners who reject Catholic teaching, lack of reverence in the presence of the Eucharist, casual attitudes toward the Eucharist from clergy, failure to catechize the faithful, and moving the tabernacle away from the center of the sanctuary.
More than 71 percent of respondents ranked “homosexuality in the priesthood” as having a “major” or “greatest” level of impact on the decline of belief in the Eucharist as well.
A majority also said that the use of extraordinary ministers, replacement of sacred music with contemporary music, ending ad orientem worship, removing altar rails, failing to hold Eucharistic events like adoration and processions, the decline of beauty in church architecture and liturgy, loss of silence, and the clerical abuse crisis have had “major” or “greatest” impact.
The Real Presence Coalition, a group of prominent Catholic figures that includes Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Father Donald Calloway, MIC, and LifeSiteNews CEO and co-founder John-Henry Westen, noted that respondents expressed concern about “a general decline in reverence during Mass, including casual dress, loud talking, and treating the Mass as a social event.”
Respondents additionally criticized “irreverent conduct” among the clergy, “with reports of priests rushing through liturgical prayers and failing to handle the Eucharist with care,” and “weak leadership among Church leaders, undermining the Church’s moral authority and causing scandal among the faithful.”
“There is a strong perception that Church leaders, including bishops and the Pope, are inconsistent and weak in upholding Canon 915,” which requires Holy Communion to be denied to manifest grave sinners, according to a presentation by Public Opinion Strategies.
“Many respondents expressed concern over the lack of reverence shown to the tabernacle, such as failing to genuflect or bow when passing it, casual behavior around it, and laypeople accessing it,” the presentation added.
Survey respondents proposed numerous recommendations to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on renewing faith in the Eucharist, with the top recommendation being encouraging reception of the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling (29 percent). The next was catechizing the faithful, such as on transubstantiation and worthy reception (24 percent).
Respondents further urged bishops to promote “greater reverence for the Eucharist,” for example, by kneeling and genuflecting, to eliminate extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, and to deny Communion to public sinners.
Many also advocated for a return to the Traditional Latin Mass or to make it more accessible and to restore traditional practices like ad orientem posture and altar rails.
Over 20 percent of respondents were exclusive Traditional Latin Mass attendees, and another 43 percent stated that they periodically attend it. Those who attend the Latin Mass were typically younger than attendees of the Novus Ordo Mass, “which may reflect a growing interest in traditional liturgical practices among younger Catholics,” the RPC said.
Even among Novus Ordo respondents, 65 percent said that they prefer to receive the Eucharist from a priest or deacon rather than an extraordinary minister.
The RPC has published an open letter to the U.S. bishops calling on them to consider the survey findings ahead of their plenary assembly in November.
Reception of Holy Communion in the hand has become widespread throughout the U.S. since the 1970s, despite Communion on the tongue having been the norm for the Church for well over 1,300 years.
As Pope Paul VI affirmed in Memoriale Domini, which granted bishops permission to allow the distribution of the Eucharist in the hand with approval from the Holy See, the practice of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue “must be retained … especially because it expresses the faithful’s reverence for the Eucharist.”
Receiving the Eucharist in the hand also significantly increases the risk of profanation of the Blessed Sacrament and inevitably leads to losing particles of the Eucharist, which may fall on the floor or elsewhere.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS) under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, confirmed that receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling is the “preferred form.”
In 2018, then-CDWDS prefect Cardinal Robert Sarah criticized reception of Holy Communion in the hand as part of a “diabolical attack” on faith in the Eucharist and praised receiving Communion on the tongue.
The use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion has also become common in much of the United States, though the Church teaches that they may be resorted to “only out of true necessity.”
Ping
I also want a return of sacred music.
Oh, yes!
“Over 20 percent of respondents were exclusive Traditional Latin Mass attendees, and another 43 percent stated that they periodically attend it.”
So it wouldn’t be very representative of all Catholics.
I approve of this message.
Non-practicing Catholics are not "faithful".
"Catholics" who believe in "a woman's right to choose" aren't really Catholic.
That was mentioned:
A majority also said that the use of extraordinary ministers, replacement of sacred music with contemporary music, ending ad orientem worship, removing altar rails, failing to hold Eucharistic events like adoration and processions, the decline of beauty in church architecture and liturgy, loss of silence, and the clerical abuse crisis have had “major” or “greatest” impact.
I’d love to believe that this survey is on the level, but I don’t.
It takes the priest five to ten minutes to have communion to the stupid communion distributors while we wait The time it would take the priest to distribute communion to the congregation is spent preparing the Eucharistic ministers
Tgen some lady wearing no sleeves goes to the back of the curch. She can’t give communion without touching my hand.
A priest knows how to give communion on the tongubwithour touching me and everyone else
Eucharistic ministers were established to distribute communion on naval vessels. They turned it into women pushing their sleeveless arms up to the altar
And stop with the Girl Scout music in satanic time signatures to feminize the church
Men are supposed to chant girls out campfire music and retain some modicum of masculinity. No
And the stupid sign of peace. I’m not turning around when the consecrated Eucharist is on the altar
And the priest sits after he’s done distributing communion but the consecrated host is still being distributed. The Eucharistic ministers are out there still in communion and the priest is sitting
Henobviously is not aware the Eucharist is the true presence otherwise how could he sit
Every once of testosterone has been drained from the room.
“Catholics” who believe in “a woman’s right to choose” aren’t really Catholic.“
That is absolutely incorrect
Every Catholic is baptized in the Catholic Church. Most have received the sacraments
These people are Catholic until the day they die. Whether they want to be or not.
They will be judged by God as Catholics. When the promote abortion it is much worse for them as they know they know it is a mortal sin.
If you mean Catholics or others should not assume that these people are acting in accordance with Catholicism then that’s right. But they are Catholic.
To me, lack of communion patens held under the chins of the faithful at Holy Communion is a red flag that there is a lack of belief in the Real Presence.
“To me, lack of communion patens held under the chins of the faithful at Holy Communion is a red flag that there is a lack of belief in the Real Presence.”
No argument here.
I’m speaking out of annoyance from a recent episode. I will address the priest directly and withhold judgement
And Christ broke bread and passed it around. I don’t think he worried about how it would be ingested.
The apostles were the first "priests/bishops". Christ invited no others to His Last Supper, not even His own Mother.
Why not go all the way, reverse VatII, return to the Sacred Latin Mass allowing many to return to the Church. If not, many Churchs will close here like in Italy.
I have to concur.
Thats a solid double over fist base.
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