I am happy to elaborate, and I wish to point out that this thread is for stating my beliefs, not convincing you that I'm right. As long as you know what and why I believe what I believe, you may or may not accept it. Nothing you said has even come close to offending me. It's true, many are skeptical of transubstantiation and other Catholic doctrines. I personally find it hard to believe that is at all what Jesus intended. But if you want to believe it, I'm cool with that. I like a lot about Catholicism, and don't have to agree with its teachings to do so :)