Rev. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M., S.T.D,
Professor of Sacramental and Liturgical Theology

Note:  If you have opened this syllabus a few days ago, I suggest that you click the "refresh" button at the top of your web browser so that you are sure that you are reading the most current version of this syllabus.

Course Description

This course examines the current structure and ritual elements of the Roman Catholic Eucharist. Particular emphasis is given to the Eucharistic Prayer. The history of these rites is studied to understand the Eucharist as 1) sacrament, 2) real presence, 3) meal, and 4) sacrifice. The course will help the participants to develop a fruitful Eucharistic spirituality and to accurately present the Eucharist in effective catechesis.

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Required Reading

Edward Foley. From Age to Age: How Christians Have Celebrated the Eucharist   (Revised and Expanded Edition). Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8146-3078-5 ($11.98)

Robert J. Daly, S.J. Sacrifice Unveiled: The True Meaning of Christian Sacrifice.  New York: T&T Clark International, 2009.  ISBN 978-0-567-03421-2  ($29.49)

Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson.  The Eucharistic Liturgies: Their Evolution and Interpretation.  Liturgical Press, 2012.  ISBN-13: 978-0814662403    ($26.37)

Edward Foley (Editor).  A Commentary on the Order of Mass of the Roman Missal: New English Translation.  Liturgical Press, 2011.  ISBN-13: 978-0814662472  ($37.77)

Recommended

Jerome Kodell. The Eucharist in the New Testament. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press (A Michael Glazier Book)1991. ISBN 0-8146-5663-3  (Amazon:  used from $ 10.95)

Nathan Mitchell.  Real Presence: The Work of Eucharist. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2007.  ISBN 978-1-56854-407-6 (Amazon: used from $6.50)

J.-M.-R. Tillard. Flesh of the Church, Flesh of Christ. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press (A Pueblo Book), 1992. ISBN 0-8146-6181-5 (Amazon:  used from $24.49)

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Course Objectives

The hoped for course objectives are:

1.  A deeper appreciation of the Eucharist, the central mystery of our faith
2.  A knowledge of the history of the Eucharist
3.  An understanding the Eucharistic theology: Sacrament, Meal, Sacrifice, Presence
4.  The ability to catechize regarding the Eucharist

Outcomes of the degree Master of Arts in Theology and the Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology

This course relates to each of the intended outcomes of the MA, namely:
1) understand the biblical, historical, systematic, and pastoral dimensions of Catholic belief and practice;
2) read and interpret texts of the Catholic tradition faithfully and critically;
3) relate issues of contemporary thought, life, and pastoral practice to larger Catholic theological context.

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Course Method

1.  Even though the class will meet face-to-face on three weekends (Saturday and Sunday), the majority of the learning activities will be accomplished at home and on-line.  It is presumed that each of the participants is an adult learner and will take responsibility for reading and studying the texts, posting the required assignments, and participating in the class discussions, etc. 

2.  There will be ten written assignments; each will account for 1/10th of the course grade. The essays are to be posted on MOODLE before midnight on the day listed below in this  syllabus.  One assignments is due about every 5 days.  Each posting is to be about one typed age in length.

3.  Because of the dialogical nature of the course it is important that they be posted on time.  Seven points (= one letter grade) will be deducted for late postings.  All work for the course must be completed by midnight Friday June 3. 

4.  Students are encouraged to read and critique the postings of the other students.  These response-postings, (together with general overall participation in the class meetings) influence the final grade.  During the course each student is expected to post at least 1 substantial response/critiques to at least one of each of the 10 postings.  ("Substantial" here means a comment which furthers the discussion.)

5.  Your grades will be posted in the MOODLE grade book.  The grade book lists your grades numerically; the School Bulletin states that 95 (and above) = A; 94 = A-; 93 = B+; 92 (and lower) =B.  [.5 is rounded up] 

6.  Your postings are presumed to be your original thought unless you indicate otherwise.  When quoting someone give the source of the quote and indicate by quotation marks where the quotation begins and ends.  Each participant is expect to be familiar with the "Statement on Plagiarism" in the Saint Meinrad Student Handbook.

Schedule of Topics and Assignments

Ordinarily a three-credit course is presented over the course of a semester, 15 weeks.  This course is three-credits, but is presented in only eight weeks.  Consequently, the work will be a bit more intense than it would be in a 15 week time frame. 

Reading Schedule

You can read the five required books at your own pace.  I suggest you stay on (or ahead of) the following schedule.

Week 1 -- April 10-16  Jerome Kodell. The Eucharist in the New Testament.
Week 2 -- April 17-23  Edward Foley. From Age to Age, pp 1-185
Week 3 -- April 24-30  Edward Foley. From Age to Age, pp 186 to end
Week 4 -- May 1-7  Robert J. Daly, S.J. Sacrifice Unveiled, pp 1-140
Week 5 -- May 8-14  Robert J. Daly, S.J. Sacrifice Unveiled, pp 141 to end
Week 6 -- May 15-21  Nathan Mitchell.  Real Presence
Week 7 -- May 22-28  J.-M.-R. Tillard. Flesh of the Church, Flesh of Christ.
Week 8 -- May 29-June 5  Review

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Writing Schedule 

There will be ten written assignments; each will account for 1/10th of the course grade. The essays are to be posted on MOODLE before midnight on the day listed below in this syllabus.  One assignments is due about every 5 days.  Each posting is to be about one typed page in length (about 600 words).  The assignments correspond (for the most part) with the reading schedule described above. 

Post a brief autobiography that will help us know something about who you are, your current ministry (if any), your progress toward the degree, and something of what you want to learn from this course.  For help on how to post to MOODLE click here.  For help in how to respond to a post on MOODLE click here.

Assignment 1 -- Friday, April 15 -- Describe the relationship between 1) Eucharist as a sacrament, 2) the Church as sacrament, and 3) Jesus of Nazareth as the original sacrament. 

Assignment 2 -- Tuesday, April 19 -- Compare the theology of the Eucharist as presented in the Synoptic Gospels with that in the Gospel of John.  (Jerome Kodell. The Eucharist in the New Testament.)

Assignment 3 - Tuesday, April 26 -- Compare what the Baltimore Catechism says about the Mass as meal with the description of meals in Kodell.

Assignment 4 -- Monday, May 2 -- Compare the description of meals at the time of Jesus as presented by Kodell and the developments in the Mass as meal during the first thousand years of Christian history.  ( Edward Foley. From Age to Age, pp 1-185)

Assignment 5 -- Thursday, May 5 -- Using the 10 periods of the historical grid write 30 sentences (three for each of the 10 periods) describing the major developments in Eucharistic theology during each of the 10 periods of the grid.  (Edward Foley. From Age to Age, pp 186 to end)

I have been asked to clarify this assignment

1. The grid and the reasons for it can be found in Chapter d20 of my website

http://www.tomrichstatter.org/dDocuments/d20overv.htm

Chapters d20 to d29 use the grid to give some general information about the history of the liturgy.

2. In the Eucharist section of my website, in chapters e20 to e30 I use the grid to present the history of the Eucharist -- if this information is helpful to you, fine and good -- but perhaps it would be your best learning experience to try to discover for yourself what you would consider to be the three most important things that happened during each of these ten periods.

3. For each of the ten periods, write 3 short, declarative, complete sentences describing the Eucharist during that period. The sentences are to by stated in such a way that they would make sense to anyone reading them even if they knew nothing about Foley or the history of the Eucharist. For example the sentence "Priest goes from presbyter to sacerdos" is too cryptic for this exercise assignment.

4. The key to the assignment is to select "the most important things" -- anyone can make three statements about the Eucharist during any of the periods: for example, Period 8: "During this period my mother made her First Holy Communion." That may be true but it is perhaps not the most important thing that happened during those 60 years.

5. The entire posting to Assignment #5, when I print it out, should fit on one side of a standard 8 1/2 by 11 page of paper in a reasonable size (e.g. 12 pt) font.

Assignment 6 -- Thursday, May 12 -- Compare the understanding of sacrifice in the Baltimore Catechism with that presented by Daly in Sacrifice Unveiled.

Assignment 7 -- Thursday, May 19 -- Compare the teaching of the Baltimore Catechism on the Mass as atonement for sin with the theology presented by Daly in Sacrifice Unveiled.

Assignment 8  -- Monday, May 23 -- Compare the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as described by Mitchell with the Ecclesial Body of Christ as described by Tillard.   (NOTE:  Fr. Tom is attending his Provincial Chapter May 23-27 and will be / is / was unavailable to the class.)

Assignment 9 -- Friday, May 27 -- Compare Daly's understanding of sacrifice with that presented by Tillard.

Assignment 10 -- Wednesday, June 1 -- In the light of what you have studied during this course, select five aspects of Eucharistic theology that had been diminished during the course of time and were re-emphasize in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.  Then state what has happened to each of these five aspects of the Eucharist during the 50 years following the Council.