The Issue That Never Gets Old

Dear Friend, 

I wrote to you the other day to highlight an interview I did recently on Cardinal Burke’s book about the “worthiness to receive Holy Communion”. The book by Sophia Institute Press is called Respecting the Body and Blood of the Lord and was published last year and included my chapter summaries and commentary on the Cardinal’s many wonderful insights. 

The renewed interest in the book is primarily due to Sophia’s ongoing promotion of it, but we have to admit that this is an issue that never gets old—because it’s about the central Reality of our Catholic faith, the Eucharist!

This week I did another interview on the topic, this time with Jim Haven of “Stations of the Cross Radio” (Northeastern US stations) and got to do an in-depth analysis of the book with him, which I enjoyed immensely. Here is the link to the hour show which I encourage everyone to take time to listen to. Here are a few of my takeaways, starting with Jim Haven’s excellent perception about the effect of the book.

After reading the book, he mentioned that he learned a very important lesson: it’s not so much all the details of the history of this teaching that are important for the average lay person, but rather that there actually is a history! 

Judging from the coverage in the press, one might get the impression that this is a “new and controversial” teaching of the Church. But if they were to read this short book, they would understand that it’s as old as the Church and would be immensely enlightened by the Cardinal’s clarity about it. 

Indeed, His Eminence is probably the best person anywhere to address this topic, not only because he has been dealing with the public scandals of so-called Catholic politicians since 2004 when John Kerry ran for office, but also because he’s a canon lawyer, a theologian, and a pastor of souls.

The Cardinal makes clear that throughout her entire history, the Church has not neglected to teach the faithful about the central Reality of our faith as well as the implications of that faith on our behaviors and practices. The teaching is rooted in what we call the Catholic Tradition, which assures that the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit to maintain the Truth of Christ until the end of time. 

And we should thank our Blessed Lord that He has given us of His Spirit! We should also thank Him for amazing prelates like Cardinal Burke and phenomenal lay teachers and evangelist like Jim Haven and so many other Catholics who are echoing the voice of the Church to a culture that is now overwhelmed by so much darkness. 

At Catholic Action, that is our very mission: to be the faithful echo of the Church, to be the light in the darkness, to fight the good fight of faith constantly, so that the souls of all of God’s children will not be lost to the power of the evil one.

Thank you again for your constant support and willingness to stay in the battle with us!

Sincerely yours in Christ and Our Lady,

Thomas McKenna

Founder and President

Catholic Action For Faith And Family
https://www.catholicaction.org/

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