Cleveland, Ohio, Feb 16, 2022 / 10:16 am
Sharing the truth about the Real Presence in the Eucharist will be a top priority for the Diocese of Cleveland over the next several years, according to the city’s bishop.
“We either need to teach more clearly or be more persuasive about what we believe. Perhaps we must do both,” said Bishop Edward Malesic in a Feb. 10 address to the First Friday Club of Cleveland.
“When Jesus said to his apostles, ‘This is my body’ and ‘This is my blood,’ he meant it,” he continued.
A 2019 Pew Research study found that just 31% of U.S. Catholics they surveyed believe that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, through a process called transubstantiation, become the body and blood of Christ— a fundamental teaching central to the Catholic faith, known as the Real Presence.