From This Is My Body to the Church in the Twenty First Century : The Last Supper as the decisive moment and criterion of a renewed ecclesiology

There are serious problems in the Roman Church. The symptoms include a decline in participation in the Mass, a shortage of priests, a loss of authority of the Church. Appropriate changes are necessary in the life of the Church. For these to be successful tradition alone is an insufficient guide. Based on the encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, this work returns as closely as possible to the understanding of the words of Jesus, "this is my body", when they were first heard. Thus it can is shown that the defining characteristics of the Church are agape, unity and service. This must be the guiding principle of changes to be implemented. Changes are needed in liturgy, sacraments, catechesis, mystagogy, theology, the structure and governance of the Church, its teachings, and evangelisation. In these areas serious effort must be made during the changes to focus on the requirement of making agape, unity and service the active and obvious principle that governs the Church. The road to be taken is not easy, however as the material presented shows, it is urgent. to set out on it.