Call Me a Poorly-Educated Catholic, Then

From Fr. Richard McBrien (Kyrie eleison) in a recent National Catholic Reporter column:

The practice of eucharistic adoration began in the 12th century, when the Real Presence of Christ was widely rejected by heretics or misunderstood by poorly educated Catholics. The church saw eucharistic adoration as a way of reaffirming its faith in the Real Presence and of promoting renewed devotion to it.

However, as time went on, eucharistic devotions, including adoration, drifted further and further away from their liturgical grounding in the Mass itself.

Notwithstanding Pope Benedict XVI's personal endorsement of eucharistic adoration and the sporadic restoration of the practice in the archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today.

Now that most Catholics are literate and even well-educated, the Mass is in the language of the people (i.e, the vernacular), and its rituals are relatively easy to understand and follow, there is little or no need for extraneous eucharistic devotions. The Mass itself provides all that a Catholic needs sacramentally and spiritually.

Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward.

Hmm. I guess I must be one of those "poorly educated Catholics." I used to have a weekly Adoration hour at my old parish. Oddly enough, those people who spent that time with the Lord were also the ones who always showed up for Mass on Sunday. Wonder if there's a connection there.

This line of thinking also reminds me of Bishop Kate Schori's infamous answers in a New York Times article:

How many members of the Episcopal Church are there in this country?

About 2.2 million. It used to be larger percentage wise, but Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children.

Episcopalians aren’t interested in replenishing their ranks by having children?

No. It’s probably the opposite. We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.

I guess the good news is that us "poorly educated Catholics" will eventually have enough babies, take over the world and institute perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in every parish.