Only half of U.S. Catholics comprehend the Church’s teaching on Communion (the Eucharist) a recent study finds.  Results from a new Pew Survey show that members of the Jewish faith are the most knowledgeable among America’s religious communities regarding world religions, while only half of American Catholics know what their own Church teaches on core principles such as Communion.

According to the survey, exactly 50 percent of Catholics in the United States correctly answered a question about Church teaching on ‘Transubstantiation’, the belief that during Mass the gifts of bread and wine at the consecration become the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  Though the appearance of bread and wine remain, their substance changes.  Slightly under half of Catholics surveyed incorrectly said the Church teaches that the bread and wine distributed at Communion are only symbols of the body and blood of Christ.  A small percentage of the people were not sure, the study reported.

Though only 34 percent of Americans overall were certain of the teaching on Transubstantiation, more than half showed knowledge of the Catholic concept of ‘Purgatory’, which is a place of purification for a person who has died but whose soul is not yet ready to enter heaven.  Nearly a quarter of participants incorrectly said purgatory was a place of damnation for evildoers.

Only 71 percent of Catholics got the purgatory question right.  While not a perfect score, it significantly (and sadly) outweighs the number of Catholics who showed a correct understanding of the most basic Church teaching on the Holy Eucharist.

SO LET'S BE CLEAR — In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the whole and entire Christ is truly and really present.  His 'Presence' is called 'real' because it is 'presence' in the fullest sense.  That is to say, it is a ‘substantial’ presence by which Christ, both God and Man, makes Himself wholly and entirely present.  (see "Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1374)