The bread and wine are gone, replaced by the real presence of Christ, while only their appearances remain.*

Despite this strikingly consistent teaching, according to a New York Times and CBS poll done in the late 90's of Catholics who attend Mass regularly, the number who believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist decreases as age decreases.

For those 65 years of age and older, about 51% believe in the Real Presence; ages 64 to 45, 37%; ages 44-30, 28%. And in 29-18 year olds, as few as 17% believe in the Real Presence. According to this pole, only one Catholic teenager in six accepts the fundamental doctrine (teaching) of the Real Presence.

Apparently, at some point in the past four decades, Catholic parents, godparents, families, clergy, catechists, school teachers, diocesan and parish leaders all decided, consciously or not, that either the "source and summit of the Christian life" (the Eucharist, see Catechism) is no longer of any significance or that young people of the past couple generations are no longer of any significance!

Both assumptions are false. Consider this: No teaching in all of the Gospels cost Jesus more followers than his teaching about his flesh being real food and his blood being real drink: "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world…whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him…"

As we will see next Sunday, the majority of his followers left him over this teaching (See John six, six, six). Who are we to refuse to believe or refuse to pass on a teaching of Christ for which he was willing to risk so much?

*This quote and some other points of fact in this article come from, in part or in whole, the San Juan Catholic Seminar Series entitled "Beginning Apologetics" Vol. 3.