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Washington, DC Newsroom, September 29, 2023 / 6:05 p.m. (CNA).
A new study shows that nearly two-thirds of adult Catholics in the United States believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, a very different result from Pew Research’s oft-cited 2019 study, which suggested that only one-third of adult Catholics in the United States believe in the Church’s teaching on the Blessed Sacrament.
The CARA study, which also highlights a strong correlation between weekly and monthly Mass attendance and belief in the Real Presence, comes amid the second year of the U.S. bishops’ Eucharistic renewal, launched in part by the Pew survey Research.
New report — published by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown and commissioned by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame — questions the methodology and findings of the Pew survey but nevertheless demonstrates that a large number of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence, which the Catechism calls “source and summit” of faith.
Zachary Keith, deputy director of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, told CNA on Thursday that it is important to examine how questions related to belief in the Eucharist are framed, citing the difference in wording of the two studies as “a large part of the reason for the discrepancy.”
Additionally, Keith said the CARA study shows that those who believe in the Real Presence “don’t know how to articulate it as well as I think the Pew study might have suggested.”
The renewal culminates at its National Eucharistic Congresswhich will be held next July and is expected to attract 80,000 Catholics to worship the Blessed Sacrament at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.
Tim Glemkowski, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress, told CNA on Thursday: “What the recent study shows is the deep need for a true Eucharistic renewal, which goes beyond mere theoretical assent and awareness of the teaching of the Church, but which aims to offer an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, leading to a lived relationship of discipleship.
“A different approach”
The CARA report takes issue with the questioning phraseology of the Pew Research study, calling it problematic. The CARA study methodology “used a different approach to try to be as clear as possible,” the report said.
To determine the percentage of American Catholic adults who believe in the Real Presence, those surveyed in the CARA study were asked a variety of questions.
The report states that after a review of “each respondent’s collective responses,” 64 percent of respondents “provided responses that indicate they believe in the Real Presence.”
The question answered by respondents in the CARA study “more accurately reflects the Church’s teachings on the Eucharist” as opposed to the question answered in the Pew Research survey, the report said.
The report says there is a “problem” with the question used in the Pew survey, which asked:
“Regardless of the official teaching of the Catholic Church, what do you personally think about the bread and wine used for communion?
A few options presented below have been proposed for the answers.
“During the Catholic mass, the bread and the wine…
1. Truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ
2. Are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ
3. No response »
The problem with this question, according to the report, is that respondents can choose both 1 and 2 and still be correct, citing American bishops‘ conferencewhich said: “The transformed bread and wine are truly the Body and Blood of Christ and are not mere symbols. »
The Eucharist is “substance and symbol”, indicates the CARA report.
Mass attendance and education
Respondents in the CARA study were also asked about a host of other issues, including Mass attendance and where they learned about the Eucharist.
The study indicates that 95% of participants in weekly Mass and 80% of those who attend at least once a month believe in the Real Presence.
Seventeen percent of adult Catholics attend Mass at least once a week, according to the report. Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, 24% of Catholics attended Mass every week, it says.
Nearly 20% of Catholic adults attend Mass at least once a month and 26% attend multiple times a year, according to the report. Thirty-five percent rarely or never participate.
Those who entered the Church as adults or served in parish ministry were surveyed at higher levels for their belief in the Real Presence. Those who attended Catholic schools, regardless of grade, were more likely than those who had never attended to believe in the Real Presence.
The survey also asked respondents where they heard about the Eucharist, which led to their belief or disbelief in the Real Presence.
Fifty-three percent said they learned from their parents, while 44 percent said they learned through sacramental preparation or religious education. Just over 40% said they learned at Mass and 37% said they learned at Catholic school.
Among those who say they learned from their parents, 67% believe in the Real Presence. Seventy-three percent of those who learned in parish programs believe, while 75 percent of those who learned their information in Catholic schools believe.
Sixty percent of those who learned about the Eucharist on the Internet believe in the Real Presence.
“Through these methods, we hope to have achieved a better understanding of what Catholics believe the Church teaches and what they personally believe about the Eucharist themselves,” the report states.
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