Friday, February 09, 2018

Sacramental intention

In Catholic theology, right intent on the part of the officiant is a necessary condition of a valid sacrament. That raises an interesting question. Given the degree to which modernism pervades the Catholic priesthood and episcopate, how many priests and bishops who celebrate Mass subscribe to transubstantiation? How many even believe in the real presence?

If they don't assent to what the Eucharist represents, according to traditional Catholic theology, how can they exercise right intent when they consecrate the communion elements? 

If not, then when faithful Catholics attend Mass, they aren't receiving a valid sacrament. The communicant isn't receiving sacramental grace. It's just plain old bread and wine. 

3 comments:

  1. And if it's just plain old bread and wine then the faithful have committed idolatry by worshipping the elements as if they were Christ Himself.

    As interesting as this is though, I know of no Roman Catholic who would be worked up over this. They would work their way around it. In the end, I'm just a silly Protestant. How could I truly understand Roman Catholicism?

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  2. John: as I understand it, you're being rather generous. I used this analogy with my kids: your car has a broken gas gauge and a punctured tank; at the station, the attendant may or may not pump gas into your car; there is no meter on the pump so you can never know not only how much gas you may have, but whether he pumped any gas at all; of course, you will still be charged.

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