To the editor:

We were pleased to see Father John Schmeidler praying before saying daily Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church as part of the 24-hour portrayal of a day in the life of Lawrence.

Unfortunately, the reporter made a major mistake in characterizing “Holy Communion” at the Mass as “partaking of bread and wine to symbolize the body and blood of Jesus Christ.”

That may be true of some Protestant denominations; however, in the Catholic Church, the communicants partake of the true body and blood of Christ. The bread and wine have been transformed into the real presence of Christ through transubstantiation.

The bread and wine are not symbolic but have a new “substance” as the body and blood of Christ while still having the form of bread and wine. Amen.

Bill and Nancy Keel,

Lawrence