This site explains catholic orthodoxy on this matter:

http://www.rosary-center.org/ll49n3.htm

Some extracts:

In spite of the fact that there is a complete and total change of substance of the bread and wine at the words of consecration, the appearances or perceptible characteristics, (the accidents) remain the same. What we see and touch and feel, etc., our senses would tell us, is bread and wine. But the reality beneath those appearances, our faith tells us, is the person of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The outward visible characteristics of bread and wine truly continue to exist, so our senses do not deceive us. However, by the power of God those outward characteristics are sustained in existence without the substance in which they formerly existed – to serve as an external sign for the sacrament of the Eucharist. Pope Leo XIII spoke of this in his encyclical “Mirae Caritatis:”

“This miracle is the greatest of its kind . . . for here all the laws of nature are suspended; the whole substance of the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood; and the species of bread and wine are sustained by the power of God without the support of any underlying substance.”
St. Thomas Aquinas gives three reasons why it is fitting that God intervenes in this miraculous way (III, 75, 5).

Because it is not customary but horrible for men to eat human flesh and drink human blood; hence Christ’s flesh and blood are given to us under the species of those things more commonly consumed by men.
Lest this sacrament might be derided by unbelievers, were we to eat the flesh and blood of Jesus under his own proper species.
That while we receive Our Lord’s Body and Blood invisibly, this may redound to the merit of faith.

We are dealing here with something that cannot be verified or even examined by natural science. The nature of the change brought about in the Eucharist, as taught by the Church, lies beyond what chemistry, physics or biology are able to establish. We have it on the clear words of Our Lord, and we can only assent to it through the supernatural light of faith.

You’re probably right. I paid more attention to the more practical stuff, especially in the OT. There’s actually a lot of practical advice in there, some of it presaging Machiavelli. A nation full of intelligent people, highly educated for their time (Hell, for today, judging by the cretins liberal arts programs churn out) surrounded by enemies who want nothing more than to pillage, rape, and slaughter the lot of them can be highly creative.

That’s a large part of the reason they’re still there. Still stuck in the same situation, but you can’t have everything. The Israelis could learn a lesson from their forebears. The most effective tactic throughout history is reciprocity. It was the basis for the rise of the Roman Republic, although when the Empire forgot that lesson their days were doomed, even if it took centuries of decay.

Purgatory is where you go if you die in a state of sin but not mortal sin (for them you just go straight to hell, do not pass go and do not collect £200). In purgatory you suffer to redeem your venial sins before being allowed into heaven. The period of this suffering could be anything from a few minutes up to thousands of years.

Limbo on the other hand is where unbaptised babies go. As they still have original sin staining their souls obviously they can’t ever be let into heaven, but even the catholic church wouldn’t be quite so hard as to send babies who have never harmed anyone to hell. Thus limbo. It’s a place without the rapture of the presence of god that distinguishes heaven but also without the hellfire and brimstone of the other place. Dull kind of existence really, especially as these babies are stuck there for the rest of eternity, but what an incentive for good catholic parents to get their offspring baptised. This is also by the way why any catholic (not just priests) can perform a baptism in case of emergency, should a baby be about to suffer neo-natal death. Spring that sprog from limbo and into everlasting paradise just by splashing a bit of water and saying the right magic words. In fact if I remember my RI lessons well enough, you can even skip the water in a dire emergency.

This is the way it all stood in 1967 when I left my catholic primary school. I believe that limbo has since been abolished but I’m not sure about purgatory.

BTW, there has been another flap over Monty Python’s Life of Brian. I can’t get much information because I have a weak WIFI signal where I’m located. I’m sure Author must have had Jesus and Mo commenting on this film in the past. If anyone knows the dates, let me know so I can read them. If he hasn’t, it’s another page in the lunacy of belief. If anyone on this blog hasn’t seen the movie, you’re missing some real hoots.

I think Middle Eastern women are exceptionally beautiful. No wonder the men are so insecure that they keep them hidden even in public.

Andrés Diplotti, how are you getting smiley faces on this blog? I’ve tried but doesn’t work.

Poor Richard, the microbe collection sounds like a leviathan–it that shall rule that, from which it is made.

Author, lettuce may not think, but my beer often does my thinking for me. Made me change my mind about women.

You have a fine mind, author. I hope your day job lets you employ it to the benefit of mankind as well.

Which didn’t stop him from drinking, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

Look at Limbo. Christianity simotaneously held/holds the belief that only the truly virtuous go to Heaven and only the truly evil go to Hell. But most people fall in between. So the Church you spend time in Limbo as penanace and then go to Heaven. Going on pilgramages and good deeds took time off. Of course, so did giving money to the Church, at least according to some Popes, and that led, along with other corrupt practices, to the Reformation. Now they’re saying Limbo never existed.

Eh. I was always less interested in the esoteric side of theology than in its applied side. I never got worked up over literal/metaphorical debate either way. Although my opinion of anyone who believes in pre-destination can only be expressed in language not fit for this site. Think Al Swearengen from Deadwood.

As to the Catholic League, I’m sure they can find better things to worry about than some punk pulling a prank. Some of those idiots pine for the Inquisition. They’d be better off preparing for the Crusades.