The Catholic/Protestant divide never really came back in later, but I always thought Protestant forms would become more effective with time, as they became better-established in the cosmology, so to speak.

I knew Communion wasn't a weekly habit, but my understanding was that since so many Catholics (at least in late 19th century England) pretty much only came to church on Easter or the occasional other important day, they usually did take Communion then. Definitely Eliza shouldn't have done it without confession first (which she admits), but Father Tooley -- as evidenced by his behavior later -- tends toward pragmatism, figuring it's better for people to be a less-than-perfect Catholics than to give up on trying at all. (This was partly me working around any errors, I must admit. Easier to handwave a flexible priest than a dogmatic one.)

I, er, didn't know about the wine, though. <headdesk>

Glad you enjoyed the book!