Thursday, January 18, 2001

At the Discovery series last night at The Falls Church, a local priest explained some of the history of the Episcopalian tradition. One of the explanations fascinated me.

Have you ever wondered why Catholics, during Communion, don’t actually pick up the bread that they eat? The priests put the bread into the partaker’s mouth. Why? Because the people didn’t understand what Communion really was, and would pocket “the body of Christ” and go home and feed it to their cattle, or plant it with their crops, figuring that since the bread was holy, it would make their cows better or their crops grow faster.

That’s not what I found interesting; what snagged my attention was the church’s response. Instead of educating people about what Communion is really for, the priesthood wouldn’t let people touch the bread, instead putting it directly in their mouths.

Sure, it solved the problem. But it eased the symptom of an underlying disease that was still festering, and which would later cause people to clamor for Protestantism.

OK. What else.

I found this on the site hosting fansubs of Kodomo no Omache, and thought I’d copy it and put it up here. Just typical kids at lunch.

Fanboy Entertainment, the company that will be distributing the new Yoshitoshi ABe manga “Essence” in America this spring, has posted an image from that manga (click for a larger, high-res image):