Difference between revisions of "Eucharist wafer"

Latest revision as of 12:00, 17 August 2011

About

A Eucharist wafer, also known as a "Communion wafer", "a Eucharist" or even "the Eucharist" (as if there were only one of them), is a circular edible cracker used in the Catholic ceremony of the Eucharist.

Catholic churches typically purchase the crackers from mass producers at a few pennies each. Prior to the ceremony, the wafer is ritually blessed (consecrated) by a Catholic priest, at which point the wafer is referred to as a consecrated host. Catholic doctrine makes a number of claims about the nature of crackers subjected to this blessing and how they must be handled; see consecrated host.

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-==Overview==
+<hide>
-[[category:Christianity]]A [[Eucharist wafer]], also known as a "[[Communion]] wafer", "[[a Eucharist]]" or even "the Eucharist" (as if there were only one of them), is a circular edible cracker used in the [[Catholic]] [[ceremony of the Eucharist]].
+[[page type::article]]
+[[thing type::food]] [[thing type::ceremonial object]]
+[[religion::Catholicism]]
+[[category:Christianity]]
+</hide>
+==About==
+A [[Eucharist wafer]], also known as a "[[Communion]] wafer", "[[a Eucharist]]" or even "the Eucharist" (as if there were only one of them), is a circular edible cracker used in the [[Catholic]] [[ceremony of the Eucharist]].
-Catholic churches typically purchase the crackers from mass producers at a few pennies each. Prior to the ceremony, the wafer is ritually blessed ([[consecrated]]) by a Catholic priest, at which point the wafer is referred to as a [[consecrated host]]. Each participating parishioner receives a "consecrated host" from the priest, and typically consumes it before returning to her/his seat -- although adherence to this expectation varies.
+Catholic churches typically purchase the crackers from mass producers at a few pennies each. Prior to the ceremony, the wafer is ritually blessed ([[consecrated]]) by a Catholic priest, at which point the wafer is referred to as a [[consecrated host]]. [[Catholic doctrine]] makes a number of claims about the nature of crackers subjected to this blessing and how they must be handled; see [[consecrated host]].
-===post-consecration===
-{{notice.need-update|This section should probably be combined with the "Consequences" section of [[Transubstantiation]] and moved to a separate page about [[consecrated host]]s &ndash; or possibly most of this stuff should just be on the transubstantiation page to begin with.}}
-According to official [[Catholic doctrine]], the wafer has at that point been somehow converted or [[transubstantiation|transformed]] into the "Body of [[Jesus Christ|Christ]]". The doctrine also states that there is no way to detect this change (i.e. to tell whether or not a given cracker has been "transubstantiated"), as the transformation involves an apparently abstract concept which they misleadingly refer to as the "[[substance theory|substance]]" of the wafer; the physical properties of the cracker are not altered. It is unclear why Catholics believe that a change has taken place, as the exact nature of the change is neither clear nor detectable.
-The doctrine apparently leads to the conclusion that improper treatment of the cracker is somehow harmful to [[Jesus Christ]] &ndash; even when such improper treatment merely involves ''not'' eating the cracker, or even merely delaying such consumption until after returning to one's seat (see [[2008 sacred wafer scandal]]).
-Despite official doctrine, however, many Catholics believe (in accordance with common sense) that the transformation is meant to be purely metaphorical, and that improper handling of the wafer is a minor [[social crime]] (on the approximate order of littering or burping loudly in a quiet room), and regularly take the cracker back to their seats before eating it.

Difference between revisions of "Eucharist wafer"

Latest revision as of 12:00, 17 August 2011

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