A little meat won’t kill anyone. But the animal still must be killed. Now, as animals have group souls killing an animal is not like killing a human. The animal group can grow another member.
Still, it is arguably cruel to do this, especially that it is possible to live without meat. Many people would not eat the meat if they had to kill the animal, first. But they do eat it, because they pass the unpleasant action of killing to someone else. So their moral freedom is on the expense of another human being, the butcher. I don’t say butchers or workers in the meat industry are imoral … but the industry per se, is such a thing. All industries what target profit, and profit alone, are imoral. I can accept a carnivore culture what is built on the respect and care for animals, where the animals are not just raw material, but beings, who are given the chance to live. I respect the herdsman who takes care for many animals, and only kills a few, when there is a need. Animals have their meaning, their own purpose in lthe world, and that is not just so we can eat them.
We are masters of this world, we should be good masters. If we can’t realize this, than we are a plague, and the world will hit back, as it often does. (Think of the Creutzfeld Jacob disease - caused by prions, what appear when animals are given to eat the flesh of their own kind )
On transsubstantiation of meat … or the bread and wine in the church, I can’t say I am a good romano-catholic, as I can’t believe that a real transformation takes place. I am not saying this is not possible, but I don’t see the need. Why turn something, what is already the body of Christ, into the body of Christ ? I do not like this kind of practice as it takes the sacred into a sacred place, turns some food into sacred food, while the world outside the church, and other foods are not sacred. We should walk the world as a church, treat everyone as Christs, eat every food giving thanks, as sacred food.
I am not saying organized church is useless, but when the first disciples had their meals in common, they did share real food, and they regarded it as the body of Christ. The theology of transsubstantiation did appear later. They even did share their material posessions.
Organised religion, the church today became a ritual, a show. I am not saying it is useless, but often it is authoritative, demands respect on the clause of blind faith, and is not free from materialism and some cheap sentimentalism.
I very much respect the Church, and see it as the keeper of the gospels. But it is just a frame. Real faith, real christianity is in our own hearts.
I do not want to take away anything, not even the Eucharist. It is truly the body of Christ … but why is that only a priest can perform it ? Why are people restricted to come and touch and taste the Christ through another human being ? The Christ is alive, and here, in us and in our fellow man.
I respect the faith of conservative christians, and I do believe in blessing the meal. Only that if there is a poison in the meal, if the one who does the blessing is like Saint Benedict, the poison will be neutralized. Still I have seen many examples where conservative believers had food intoxication even with the blessings. You can’t force the hands of God just by saying a blessing or believing in it’s power. Real faith is not blind faith. Real faith is knowledge, and working along the universal rules, and not through miracles. Real faith makes miracles understandable as we understand taht they are not miracles, but fit perfectly into the frame of the Universe. Some people live in ignorance, they say they are faithful, than they are suprised that accidents, illnesses, death comes upon them. Many things are avoidable by a little knowledge … why burden our guardian angels with tasks what could be performed by ourselves ?
PS. I know that there is a faith what greatly surpasses mine, where all the things I said above prove to be silly. But I am not there yet. 
I wish you all the best, as your way becomes clearer and clearer to you.