The Eucharist and Human Liberation : SCM Press : 9780334003816 : 0334003814 : 30 Apr 2012 : The eucharist is central to the life of the churches, but not in the forms in which it is so widely celebrated today. Liturgical reform is only skin-deep and does not touch the real problems; the eucharist is in captivity to the institutional church. It has been socially conditioned. What began with sacrifice for the liberation of others has long been a means of domesticating believers. The form of the eucharist has been maintained, but its meaning has been evacuated or distorted. Such is the passionate argument of Fr Balasuriya, a Roman Catholic priest writing from his native Sri Lanka. His vigorous critique ranges over many areas: the origins of the eucharist and its history down the centuries; the significance of the eucharist in modem society, and especially in the third world, against a background of other cultures and other religions; the nature of the church, the status of women, the char