The Revival, the Eucharist, and the Pew data

What do Catholics really believe about the Eucharist?

Pillar subscribers can listen to this analysis here: The Pillar TL;DR

According to organizers, nearly 50,000 Catholics will gather this week in Indianapolis for the Church’s National Eucharistic Congress.

A priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Credit: National Eucharistic Congress.

In some ways, Catholics have a five-year-old report from Pew Research to thank for the event. In the summer of 2019, Pew published a study with the attention-getting headline, “Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ”

Bishop Robert Barron, regarded by many in the USCCB as especially attuned to currents in the culture and online, took to Twitter saying: “It's hard to describe how angry I feel” after reading the report.

“This should be a wake-up call to all of us in the Church,” the bishop added.

But what did that Pew report really say about the state of belief in the US Catholic Church? How should Catholics think about it ahead of the Eucharistic Congress?

The Pillar looks at the numbers.

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The Pew results came from a large panel survey in which Americans of all faiths were quizzed on their knowledge about the beliefs of all faiths.

While a large majority of Americans correctly identified basic beliefs, like that the Trinity is composed of one God in three persons  — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — many had trouble with slightly harder questions.

Only 20% of Americans correctly answered that it was historically the Protestant tradition which believes salvation is by faith alone, and not the Catholic perspective.

The question on Catholic belief in the Eucharist read: “Which best describes Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion? A. They actually become the body and blood of Jesus. B. They are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus.”

A followup question asked Catholic respondents only:“Regardless of the official teaching of the Catholic Church, what do you personally believe about the bread and wine used for Communion?” while offering the same two options.

Overall, 50% of Catholics said that the Church teaches that the bread and wine “actually become” the body and blood of Jesus, and only 28% said that they themselves agreed with this teaching.

It’s understandable that the bishops considered this a wakeup call.  

But what sort of wakeup call was it?

On the one hand, only 50% of Catholics selected with the wording Pew used to designate belief in transubstantiation — and of just those Catholics, nearly half disagreed with the Church teaching. 

But on the other hand, 70% of Catholics said they agreed with what they thought the Church teaches, while only 24% said they disagreed with what they understood the Church to teach.

Two percent of Catholics thought that the Church taught bread and wine are only a symbol, but also said that they themselves believe the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus. Those Catholics might be among the most fascinating respondents to the poll — Were they just confused by the question, or did they think the Church had fallen away from its doctrinal belief?

One percent of Catholics simply didn’t answer the question at all and another 5% marked that they were unsure.

But the interplay between questions about what respondents thought the Church teaches, and questions about what they believe personally, suggests that the problem among American Catholics is more likely a matter of poor catechesis than infidelity.

A strong majority thought that they agreed with the Church about the nature of the Eucharist, even while many of them assented to a statement which didn’t seem to match Church teaching.

But critics of the survey have also asked whether the wording of the Pew survey’s questions also caused problems in the results. 

Polling is notoriously difficult, with small changes in wording of the questions and answers often resulting in markedly different pictures.

While Pew’s intention was clearly to assess Catholic belief in transubstantiation, the survey’s was arguably imprecise. 

According to the Catholic doctrine, the Eucharist becomes the body and blood of Christ in substance, while maintaining the accidents —taste, appearance, chemical composition — of bread and wine.

Did the wording “actually become” suggest to many respondents some different teaching, to which believing Catholics would not assent?

Were respondents presuming an intended distinction between “actual presence,” and “real presence” in the question?

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Hans Plate, founder of Vinea Research, believes that better wording in the Pew survey would have yielded clearer results. 

In its own survey of Catholics, Vinea split an overall research group into two sub-groups.  One sub-group was asked the Pew question about the Eucharist. The other group was asked a revised question, designed to use terminology which would be clearer to catechized Catholics.

“Which of the following best describes Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion? A. Jesus Christ is truly present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist B. Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not truly present C. Not sure”

Of course, once people start arguing about wording, the rabbit hole can go down quite a way — and “really present” is probably the best possible phrase that any survey could use. 

Indeed, when its research was released earlier this year, Vinea Research’s own wording immediately drew theological criticism from some quarters, who doubted whether it was an orthodox articulation of Catholic doctrine.

But for survey respondents, the Vinea wording seemed to be a clarifying change.

When using Pew’s language, Vinea Research found that 45% of Catholic respondents thought the Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine “actually become” the body and blood of Jesus, while 52% thought the Church teaches the bread and wine were a symbol.

But using the modified language, 73% thought that the Church teaches Jesus is “truly present in the bread and wine,” while only 22% thought the Church teaches the bread and wine are “symbols of Jesus, but … not truly present”.

In both groups, the share of Catholics who said they agreed with the Church’s teaching was high. But the “truly present” phrasing drew higher agreement  — 88% — while the “actually become” phrasing received slightly lower agreement  — 74%.

With Vinea Research’s phrasing, more people agreed with the answer meant to describe transubstantiation than with Pew’s phrasing, and more people believed themselves to be in agreement with the Church’s teaching.

So was the entire foundation of Eucharistic Revival really bad phrasing from a pollster? 

Plate, the Vinea Research founder, pointed to the results of his firm’s survey, which showed that Catholics who attend Mass more often agreed with the statement that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist at higher rates than those who attend less often:

But, he emphasized, the data also presents a curious conclusion. Half of Catholics who “seldom” attend Mass, and 80% of those who attend “once or twice a month,” say that they believe Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

So what does it mean to believe that Jesus is tpresent in the Eucharist and still choose not to attend Mass at least every Sunday?

Plate emphasized that knowing the wording of a doctrine is only one step to living as if one believes it. 

Taken together, the two surveys indicate that some Catholics hold the Church’s teaching, as they understand it, but don’t seem to reflect that in their religious habits. Others think they hold the Church’s teaching, but don’t.

For bishops, that might suggest a call both for more catechesis about what it means to be a Catholic, and for more invitations to live as Catholics, through action. And according to Eucharistic Congress organizers, that’s what their event aims to do.

Will it work? That’s not yet clear. But whether another survey will help answer that question probably depends — especially on the wording.