Thank God we are returning to Adoration.

The practice of eucharistic adoration began in the 12th century, when the Real Presence of Christ was widely rejected by heretics or misunderstood by poorly educated Catholics. The church saw eucharistic adoration as a way of reaffirming its faith in the Real Presence and of promoting renewed devotion to it.

However, as time went on, eucharistic devotions, including adoration, drifted further and further away from their liturgical grounding in the Mass itself.

Notwithstanding Pope Benedict XVI's personal endorsement of eucharistic adoration and the sporadic restoration of the practice in the archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today.

Now that most Catholics are literate and even well-educated, the Mass is in the language of the people (i.e, the vernacular), and its rituals are relatively easy to understand and follow, there is little or no need for extraneous eucharistic devotions. The Mass itself provides all that a Catholic needs sacramentally and spiritually.

Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward.

© 2009 Richard P. McBrien. All rights reserved. Fr. McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame

Confused by the above I looked for some refutation.   And found it in a letter to a network chat called Catholic Answers

I'd have to disagree on this point for the reason that early in the years of Ignatius of Antioch, he told his followers to stay with the teachings of the Church and to avoid

"[those who] abstain from the Eucharist...because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ..."*Letter to the Smyrnaeans*6-7 (A.D. 110)]

. 

So from here, many of Ignatius' followers who were hermits, gathered the Eucharist from the bishops and took them to the caves and dwellings of solitude that they lived in. They knew that the Eucharist, when not being received must be held to the utmost respect since they knew for sure that it was Christ in the Eucharist.

And so as time went on and monasticism went from mostly solitary to community life, the hermits and monks brought with them practices that developed in the caves. One of these practices, adoring the Eucharist, happened to be one of those new practices. They would carry it in chrismals, and in perulas (bags worn around the neck) to show their devotion to the Eucharist. And as early as 325 (council of Nicea) the development of this practice was used and has shifted over time. St. Basil at one of his Masses (in the 300s) divided the Eucharist into 3 parts: 1 for himself, 1 for the monks, and 1 to be suspended above the altar in a gold dove.

Also, WE are to Adore Christ in the Eucharist the same way that Moses, David, and the Israelites adored God in the Ark. Christ has come forth from the New Ark and is the New Covenant (the Ark contained the 10 commandments, Aaron's rod for the priests, and Mana or the bread from heaven). Christ fulfills all of these, so why not adore him the same way?

God Bless :D

The above from Catholic Answers demonstrates, especially the mention of St Basil demonstrates there was indeed retention of the sacred species outside of Mass.   Now there is not mention in Catholic History of any heresy or lack of education among the faithful.   The phrase that it 'was misunderstood by 'poorly educated cathollics' is totally insulting to people he never met.   The ability to read and write has nothing to do with the innate intelligence of individual.   The Church did to see Adoration as re-affirming faith in the Real Presence nor to promote devotion, presumably in the Mass, to the Real Presence.   It was a way of loving and adoring Jesus outside of the Mass.   Father Richard McBrien seems to forget that the one person who has a say in this is the object of such devotion - Jesus Christ.   Now I cannot in any way conceive of any circumstances in which he would reject the prayers and acts of love towards Him because the supplicant and broke Fr McBrien's rule and adored him outside of Mass.   His is a pathetic claim.   But, yes with the building of great Churches and Cathedrals there was increased devotion to Jesus in the Tabernacle, and there was the teaching of St Thonas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica which explained why although the mystery of the Real Presence was beyond understanding it was not beyond reason.   Yes, this did increase the faith and confidence of people to approach people in the Blessed Sacrament.

Now came what the Irish would call a 'right cracker'.   Adoration drifted people away from the grounding in the Mass itself.   He offers no explanation for this.    In fact the majority of people who go to daily Mass are people who attend Mass most every day.  They need no grounding in the meaning of the Mass and the majority will look forward to times of Adoration.   It is sad that Fr McBrien has died and I pray for his soul, but he did join so many other reformers with this teaching and the result of this return to 'grounding of people in the Mass itself; the refusal to let people kneel for Communion, the breaking down of altar rails and making the badly educated people stand and not kneel like children, the removal of the Tabernacles to another room or in a safe in the wall in some part of the Church, has devasted the numbers attending Mass and indeed far from grounding the people in the Mass the people are totally confused and few can now tell what the Mass is,   Yet Father McBrien tells us that the Mass is all that the people need sacramentally and spiritually.   No, Father McBruebm the people need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus, they need to kneel and adore him when receiving Communion, they need to know that their Church is really a Holy place and when they visit their Church Jesus will be waiting to hear their prayers and supplications and accept their adoration.   You and your friends have denied them this.   But thank God many of our young priests are turning back to recognise what the Jesus in the Tabernacle, the tabernacle is a tent, like the one the Jews carried through the desert and treated with reverence and awe, yet it only contained the commandments of God.   Our new tent contains God Himself.