The Bible and the Church Fathers teach the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist

The NASB will be find, I prefer that over dynamic equivalencies anyway. Yes, you can quote from the document you referenced. Though Catholics are not part of the World Council of Churches and were not part of the drafting of the document and thus it cannot be referenced as indicative of the Catholic view of the Eucharist, there is an agreed upon statement between Catholics in the U. S. and Orthodox in the U. S. on this very document, so I won't have a problem with it, as long as it is understood by what Catholics claim about it here: . http://www.usccb.org...Here is one qualification Catholics make about the document, and there are others, as cited by the link above: "First, we would welcome fuller discussion of the way in which Eucharist manifests the nature of the church as the body of Christ. Eucharist is related to the very being of the Church and cannot be seen simply as a strengthening of the grace of baptism. Second, the relationship between Christ's sacrifice and his presence in the eucharist requires further clarification, particularly in regard to his offering of himself to the Father and his giving of himself to us as spiritual food. " However, I must strongly note that we are not debating here what Protestants and Orthodox agree upon concerning the Eucharist, which is what the document you cited is about, but the debate is about whether the "Bible and the Church Fathers" teach the real presence of Christ. This is very different, so I don't know how helpful it will be for you to reference the document, as it is not explicitely relevant to our debate, unless you are going to use it as a document to interpret a particular Scripture about the Eucharist. As to who is included in the Early Church Fathers, we can use the first list found below, as it is the list that both Catholics and Orthodox (and probably Protestants) agree upon:. http://en.wikipedia.org... Here is my argument: Scripture affirms that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus Himself spoke of the time when the Apostles would eat His flesh and drink His blood in John 6:53-55, which says: "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the fleshof the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feedson my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up onthe last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ' "1 Corinthians 10:16 confirms that the words spoken by Jesus in John 6 apply to the Eucharist as St. Paul said:"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the bloodof Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body ofChrist? "The early Church Fathers also teach that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus, as the following quotes from the second century demonstrate:"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of JesusChrist which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to themind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because theydo not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ,flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness,raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in theirdisputes" (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2"7:1[A. D. 110]). "We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted topartake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has beenwashed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration[i. e. , has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For notas common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christour Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and bloodfor our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been madeinto the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the changeof which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood ofthat incarnated Jesus" (St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 66 [A. D. 151]). "If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly takebread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his bodyand affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood? " (St. Irenaeus,Against Heresies 4:33"32 [A. D. 189]). "He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, fromwhich he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he hasestablished as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receivesthe Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from thesethe substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say thatthe flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternallife"flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is infact a member of him? " (ibid. , 5:2). Thus The Bible and the Church Fathers teach the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.