From Dr Geoffrey Turner’s introduction to the published conference papers in New Blackfriars, March 2007:
‘The Eucharist makes – and is – the Church.’ Matthew Levering’s assertion suggests that it was, with hindsight, time that the Catholic Theological Association should hold after twenty years a conference on ‘The Eucharist’, though the bi-line ‘Some Contemporary Perspectives’ shows that it was not possible to cover every angle. Apart from the topic, there were a couple of other firsts: the first time, and maybe not the last, that we held our conference at the north of England seminary, Ushaw College near Durham and, by happy chance, the first time that we were able to build in a joint session with the British Orthodox theologians who were in Durham at the same time, at which Ephrem Lash and Michael McGuckian explored Eastern and Western perspectives on the Eucharist, printed here as a pair. In these ecumenical times, you will see that each author is more inclined to self-criticism than scoring points off the other, a position exemplified by the presence of Roman Catholic and Orthodox theologians at a celebration of Anglican Evening Prayer in Durham Cathedral with a Bishop from each of the three traditions in the choir…