Most of us are aware that all Christian Communion practices have their beginnings in the Last Supper of Jesus and His apostles. That Last Supper was actually a Seder meal, and many contemporary Jews would recognize many of the elements—the sharing of the cup, the blessing, the breaking of bread, the sop that was handed to Judas—as part of their Passover celebrations. The New Testament’s book of Acts 2:42 records that early Christians would gather together to worship, pray, and teach. In the years after the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, there were two different but similar customs or early sacraments that are closely related to the more contemporary practice of Communion. These two sacraments could also be called meals, as one was the Lord’s Supper and the other was the Agape feast. In 1 Corinthians 11:20–22, the apostle Paul was critical of the church because they were getting too rowdy and even drunk at what others would later call the Agape love feast: Therefore, when you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s Supper. For at the meal, each one eats his own supper ahead of others. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk! Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on the church of God and embarrass those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you for this! (HCSB) Many scholars believe the early church would gather weekly for a common meal, often shared in the homes or house churches. Each meal would include a blessing, the breaking of bread, and a distribution of Communion. Over time this Communion (a Greek word for “fellowship”) became the Eucharist (another Greek word, meaning “grateful” or “thanksgiving”) and the central focus of the weekly gathering. Piecing various historical records together indicates that this weekly common meal, sometimes called the Agape feast, included the distribution of Communion. However, independent of the Agape feast, a separate liturgy developed for Communion that did not include a meal. The Agape feast was truly a feast (think potluck with wine), and, probably because of the abuses similar to those mentioned by Paul hundreds of years earlier, it disappeared completely by the fourth century.

Celibacy - A Personal Choice or Requirement?  Today the issue of celibacy is a popular topic with both the uninformed and the opinionated. In the United States as well as in many nations around the globe, the Catholic Church has had to face very serious issues of child sexual abuse allegations and convictions. Some connect the alleged crimes to the church’s practice of celibacy. The thinking is that somehow celibacy creates pent-up sexual frustration that is then released through criminal conduct. However, while the child sexual abuse allegations are very serious and no child should be subjected to abuse, there is no evidence I have found that priests are more likely to abuse children than are other groups of men. The Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM) has stated repeatedly that there is no profile of a typical sex offender. (32)  If that is true, then child sex offenders can be male or female, married, divorced, or single. Research indicates that the majority of the offenders are minors themselves, typically older boys preying on younger boys and girls. It follows, therefore, that only a very small percentage of these sex offenders would be frustrated because of celibacy. The news reports of clergy sexual abuse, just like other stories of infidelity, theft, power struggles, or any kind of abuse within the church, have wounded the church and created a blemish on the desirability of a career or vocational calling to the priesthood. Many people believe that celibacy has contributed greatly to the decline in the number of priests. In total the number of Catholic priests in the United States dropped from nearly 59,000 in 1975 to about 41,500 last year. (33) These issues, coupled with other demographic and macro trends in the Catholic Church, have led to a serious decline in the number of men going into the priesthood. The requirement of celibate priests in the church is ancient, meaning the advocacy of celibacy for both priests and monks dates back centuries. The picture at the beginning of this chapter is of Origen, who was born at the end of the second century in Alexandria, Egypt. The Alexandrian school was one of the first advocates of monastic living, including a very ascetic lifestyle that was void of all material comforts. Origen was famous for being a devoted Christian, an early theologian, a heretic, and an early advocate for celibacy (not all at the same time). So passionate was he about his own celibacy that he reportedly castrated himself.

Today the Roman Catholic Church continues to embrace both purgatory as well as indulgences. However, since the time of the Reformation, when Martin Luther and others strongly objected to the obvious abuses in the church, including the sale of indulgences, the Roman Catholic Church has modified its teachings so that purgatory is not so frightening.

Was Peter the first Pope? Should Christians pray the Rosary? Should priests be married? These are among the provocative topics addressed in Roaming Catholics: Ending the wandering to embrace the wonder"