The Meal That Reconnects Eucharistic Eating and the Global Food Crisis

"For anyone who is concerned with the future of our common home, for anyone who is concerned for the credibility of our Christian witness, and especially for all who are concerned about both—this book is a must read. Responding to Pope Francis's challenge in Laudato Sí Mary McGann provides us with a wonderful example of how sacramental theology and our liturgical celebrations can deepen our commitment to our planet and to true justice for the dispossessed and the hungry. Along the way she has given us a very accessible account of the complex global food crisis that we face."

“I urge you: buy it, study it and share its arguments with your community.”

“This work gives a whole new mystical meaning to the now popular and welcome ‘farm-to-table’ eating.”

"We need McGann's prophetic vision of Eucharistic eating, of a system that cares for the earth and serves the human family."

"Today we face a crisis regarding food and know that we need to change our ways of food production and consumption if we, and the planet, are to survive. Likewise, as Christians, we are in a crisis of our understanding of the Eucharist. Eucharist is an activity. An activity that supposes an awareness of our dependence . . . this book helps us develop that awareness."

"We need McGann's prophetic vision of Eucharistic eating, of a system that cares for the earth and serves the human family."

"The Meal That Reconnects is that rare book that blends theology, justice, and liturgy in a practical and readable manner. It's also hopeful while being honest and clear-sighted. It could just be the leaven your parish needs to embrace its eucharistic calling."

"Mary McGann's tour de force brings together two substantial topics, on the one hand, eucharistic practice and theology, and on the other hand, the industrial agricultural complex. Each topic is allowed space to develop through an overview of dynamic development even while being woven together. An inspirational and pastoral handbook of places to start based on the reality of engaging with a meal that reconnects all of this through the simplicity of real bread, real wine, real community, real meals, real conversations, and the real and imminent crises in the world for which we have been called to care in response to the `cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.'"

"We're all food. How can hunger exist—pervasive structural deprivation, waste, injustice, and cruelty—in a world so abundant? How can greed exist in a world permeated by the Body of Christ, sacrament of enough for all, hoarding for none? Mary McGann's new book, The Meal that Reconnects, invites readers into a eucharistic vision of justice, care, and reverence: food as an interspecies paschal event knitting together all that is. Critical and profoundly connective, this book is a passionate invitation to eating well and wisely, reverently and thankfully, ethically and joyfully on our good Earth."

"The Meal That Reconnects, by Mary McGann, provides a more challenging way of scrutinizing the Eucharist. Her emphasis on renewal is concentrated not so much on liturgical performance but rather upon a basic integrity of eating. This is an important book for anyone studying the Eucharist in the twenty-first century."

"Rarely does one find a work that so clearly integrates the ancient symbols of Christian faith with contemporary scientific assessment of the fundamental need for food and drink. In The Meal That Reconnects, Mary McGann offers a well-documented and articulate presentation of the relationship between the meals of Jesus as expressions of God's reign of justice and peace and how this life-giving practice is thwarted and deformed by industrialization of food systems in which we all participate. For the Catholic, Anglican, or Protestant who recognizes there is no life or less-than-life without adequate food and drink, McGann describes the calculus of greed and the damage it continues to inflict on human beings and the whole creation. And yet there is hope for the millions of Christians who gather weekly at the Eucharistic table. In her careful and compelling description of the economic, social, and political dimensions of Eucharistic feasting, McGann draws out what has always been present but frequently overlooked: the profound relationship between eating and drinking with Jesus for the life of the world. I say, Take and read, take and read this remarkable work and let it shape your praying, preaching, teaching, singing, and most importantly, your public advocacy."

"Mary McGann accomplishes brilliantly for food and the Eucharist what Linda Gibler and Christiana Zenner have done for water. Drawing on her masterful synthesis of the latest research on early Christian meal practices, McGann extends a gracious invitation to the eucharistic banquet and to a `eucharistic economy.' While forthrightly exposing the global food economy's degradation of bodies and environments, this book offers an account of food justice that never abandons the sumptuous flavors and joys of the meal itself. This is a food-forward spirituality of the Eucharist to savor and share in an ecological age."

"In her pioneering 1976 volume, The Eucharist and the Hunger of the World, Monika K. Hellwig concluded that the Eucharist should prompt Christians to support organizations that feed the hungry. Now some 40 years later, as we face what Pope Francis has called `a climate emergency,' Mary E. McGann, RSCJ demonstrates how Hellwig's imperative is ever more complex and urgent. McGann plumbs essential sources from ecology, food studies, agriculture, economics, health and wellness, social ethics, liturgical studies, and theology—and then in very accessible terms, shows the hope filled potential of the Christian Eucharist as a paradigm to counter the vast injustices of the current global corporate food industry. Where the corporate model leaves billions hungry, natural seeds inaccessible, soils depleted, and laborers exploited, a Eucharistic paradigm signals a path to regenerative agricultural practices that will contribute to the healing and reconciling o f human relationships with the life-giving Earth. A 'must read'!"