Antiquitopia

You want to know where your Communion / Eucharist wafers come from? Well, if you are in the U.S., it probably comes from one place, a single bakery in Rhode Island that services 80% of Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Southern Baptist churches--interesting combination. This bakery has been owned and operated by the Cavanagh family for well over 60 years. The family-owned company makes about 80 percent of the communion bread used by the Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran and Southern Baptist churches in the United States. It has a similar market share in Australia, Canada and Britain, and is now looking to expand to West Africa. “We feel as though we’re a bakery, and all we’re making is bread,” said Andy Cavanagh, the company’s general manager, and part of the fourth generation of Cavanaghs to work here. “It’s not that we don’t have respect for what happens to it, but that transformation is out of our hands and takes place in a church. The best thing we can do is make sure the bread is ...

Strange question, isn't it? You would naturally think the answer would be a resounding YES!!! Of course it is a sacrilege for someone outside the Catholic faith (someone who does not believe) to partake of the host. And such is the position of the rather conservative group, the Catholic League. But, according to Catholic scholar, Anthony Stevens-Arroyo, a friend of mine by the way, it is not. He comments on Sally Quinn's partaking of the host at Tim Russert's funeral. Tim was Catholic, and so it was a Catholic funeral. Sally is not. In fact, she is agnostic, if not atheist. The Catholic League was upset by this. According to Stevens-Arroyo, their logic is as follows: Now, every believing Catholic must be vigilant against intentional desecration of the host. Presumably, the ire directed against Sally Quinn is sparked by the requirement that reception of the sacrament be motivated by faith in Christ. Quinn says she has none; ergo, such logic runs, her reception disre...