Q: How do I explain to a non-Catholic Christian that the Eucharist is not cannibalism?A: You can explain to a non-Catholic Christian that the Eucharist is not cannibalism by first explaining each of the two parts separately, at first, and then together. What we must first do is explain the Eucharist by saying that in the Eucharist Christ's Body is truly and substantially present in a supernatural, not in a natural way. It is the same as in the Last Supper when Christ changed the substance of the bread and wine, but not its form, into His Flesh and Blood. So, the form of the Eucharist, which does not change, is bread and wine.
Then, you must answer the question of cannibalism. Cannibalism is to eat food, but not just any food. For it to be cannibalism the form of the food has to be meat and / or blood of one’s own species. Since the form of the Eucharist is not meat or blood it cannot be cannibalism. The determining factor is the form of the food. If a person eats a dead man, that would be cannibalism. If, on the other hand, a lion nourishes himself by eating several people, and then a month later a hunter comes along and kills and eats that lion, that would not be cannibalism.
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