Northern Ireland

Fr Patrick McCafferty: A theology based on ignorance is no theology worthy of the name

 Fr Patrick McCafferty is parish priest of Corpus Christi in west Belfast
 Fr Patrick McCafferty is parish priest of Corpus Christi in west Belfast  Fr Patrick McCafferty is parish priest of Corpus Christi in west Belfast

IGNORANCE of what the Catholic Church truly believes about the Mass lies at the heart of Rev McIntyre’s grotesque description, of the Holiest of all that is holy, as “evil”. A theology based on ignorance is no theology worthy of the name.

Firstly, let me affirm our faith, as Catholic Christians, in the real presence of the Risen Christ in the unleavened bread and the wine in the chalice, after they have been changed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ.

Our firm belief is based on the Lord’s own clear teaching in the Gospel (John 6:51-59).

When the Lord first taught this doctrine, in the Synagogue at Capernaum, He lost many followers. Far from calling them back to explain that He was speaking only metaphorically, He turned to His disciples and asked them were they also going to leave Him?

The Lord Jesus meant what He said about the Holy Eucharist. Our faith in His real presence is simple acceptance of His clear words in the Scriptures.

We share this faith with the early Christians. The early fathers of the Church bear witness to the real presence. Our faith in Jesus’s Eucharistic presence is absolutely unshakeable.

The core of Rev McIntyre’s false apprehension of what the Mass truly means is revealed in his assertion that Christ “is sacrificed every time Mass is celebrated”. This statement of Rev McIntyre’s is utterly false.

Christ is not sacrificed every time Holy Mass is celebrated. His once and for all sacrifice offered on the Cross is made really present.

It is not repeated. It is not ‘offered again’. Absolutely not. Rather, the glorious and eternal victory achieved by the Lord’s Cross and Resurrection is proclaimed and set forth, ‘until He comes’ (I Corinthians 11:26).

Far from being a “dishonour” to the Son of God, Holy Mass is His own prayer, the offering of His very self, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to the eternal glory of His Father.

It is His own gift entrusted to His Church, until we come at last to His eternal banquet, in the heavenly homeland.

Read more: Rev Peter McIntyre - I do not have a sectarian bone in my body