Thomas O’Laughlin, Eating Together Becoming One: Taking Up Pope Francis’s Call to Theologians. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2019. pp.174. $25.95 pb. ISBN 978-0-8146-8458-0. Reviewed by Marie CONN, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA 19118.

Reading this book brought back powerful memories of my days in Notre Dame’s doctoral program. My major was Liturgical History with minors in Liturgical Theology and Ethics. Many of my colleagues were ordained in a variety of traditions. Encouraged by a professor to worship with the people whose traditions we were studying, we often joined in Sunday worship with non-Roman Christians. The question of sharing in communion often came up. I was of the “unity desired” conviction; a fellow student (a Catholic priest) believed in “unity not yet achieved.” So he would while I approached the altar. We studied BEM together, but had to agree to disagree on this central issue.

Some 30 years later, O’Loughlin’s book offers new approaches to the question of intercommunion. He challenges us to look at the nature of what we are doing when we gather as a community for the eucharist. He sees eucharist not as “the name given to a group activity; not the name of some object brought into existence by a minister. Eucharist is related to a verb, not a noun.” (9)

In his discussion using the church’s stance on slavery as a sort of parallel, O’Loughlin points out that “the demands of correct practice outweighed the force of long repetition of a position.” (10) Later, he notes that “…the justification of intercommunion should be seen to come to the actuality of the Eucharist itself.” (18)

In the book, O’Loughlin offers a series of reflections in which he asks us to explore the theological, liturgical, and pastoral issues related to the question of intercommunion. While writing in an accessible, popular style, he makes, in the words of one reviewer, “a serious theological contribution.”

As we move through the book, we are offered new approaches to an understanding of eucharist: we are sisters and brothers in the Spirit; what he calls “the grammar of meals; and God’s heavenly meal on earth.” He posits that each approach points toward allowing non-Romans to participate fully at our liturgies, including sharing our eucharistic meal.

In his conclusion, O’Loughlin asks how we can, in good conscience, “exclude any member of the baptized Spirit-formed family from full participation in the very activity for which the Spirit has transformed us?” (155)

This book is recommended for a wide range of readers from a variety of traditions and perspectives; for academic use both graduate and undergraduate; for parish libraries; in short, for anyone for whom the question of intercommunion is a pastoral concern.