Church bans gluten-free host

[WingsOfEagles]

I guess I’m confused by this article Our Parish bulletin has a little announcement in it that if someone has a gluten allergy, the diocese will purchase gluten-free host if provided with a Doctor’s note. I think it may be a Bishop decision and this Bishop probably made a poor decision in this case.

 

[WingsOfEagles]

Oh, I don’t know. It sounds like nitpicking on the Church’s part as far as I’m concerned.

The wafer doesn’t become the Lord’s body until the Holy Spirit is requested by the priest to “change” it into Christ’s body. Until then it’s just one more chip in a bag of wafers. When I was doing my RCIA, I remember the priest joking that if an altar boy broke into the sacristy cupboard and drank the wine, he’d be making a big mistake, as it would give him a terrible headache. The inference was that it was not even particularly good wine, let alone the blood of Christ in its unconsecrated form.

Do you think the Holy Spirit is going to quibble because it’s not literally wheat, particulary if He knows that a girl with caeliac disease seriously wants to receive commune?

And in many countries, the staple carbohydrate grain is rice, not wheat. But there’s not much rice grown in the Middle East.

This sort of nit picking doesn’t help the Church’s image much in the eyes of unbelievers. Every day thousands of unbelievers are probably disappearing into the jaws of hell, but the big issue of the day in that parish is the wafer components.

I agree with you. Sometimes, it seems a little extreme. Jesus didn’t say, “Do this in memory of me, but be sure the bread you use contains wheat. If it doesn’t, you won’t be saved.”

 

[jilly4ski]

I guess I’m confused by this article Our Parish bulletin has a little announcement in it that if someone has a gluten allergy, the diocese will purchase gluten-free host if provided with a Doctor’s note. I think it may be a Bishop decision and this Bishop probably made a poor decision in this case.

The article is correct that a gluten free host is disallowed. There is a very low gluten host that is allowed for those with a gluten allergy or celiac disease, or they can receive only from the cup.

 

[WingsOfEagles]

The article is correct that a gluten free host is disallowed. There is a very low gluten host that is allowed for those with a gluten allergy or celiac disease, or they can receive only from the cup.

Maybe it was a low-gluten host that was advertized in the bulletin for those with allergies. I didn’t look into too carefully because I don’t have the issue.

 

[maryjk]

This is NOT monstrously silly. For anyone with celiac disease, they can sense even minute amounts of gluten in their food and do find the taste of it disgusting to them, for good reason.

Yes, it is.

As someone with a system, that can sense even minute amounts of gluten, I receive the low gluten host, pretty much, every week. Sometimes more than once a week. I have never had a reaction.

It is monstrously silly to think that the Church needs to provide a low gluten host that this girl likes. Sorry but it is best that she learn now that, unlike what her mother has lead her to believe, the world doesn’t actually revolve around her.

 

[WingsOfEagles]

I read somewhere that often when people are allergic to something, the food will taste horrible on their tongues. It is kind of a pre-wired thing to prevent us from eating something harmful to our bodies. Perhaps if she is severe, this is the case with her. It could also be that she generally consumes rice, and any wheat product (however low) tastes odd. She’s what, 8 or 9? I think I’m going to let her off the hook on the selfish thing.

 

[Triciacat]

Do you think the Holy Spirit is going to quibble because it’s not literally wheat, particulary if He knows that a girl with caeliac disease seriously wants to receive commune?

This sort of nit picking doesn’t help the Church’s image much in the eyes of unbelievers. Every day thousands of unbelievers are probably disappearing into the jaws of hell, but the big issue of the day in that parish is the wafer components.

Interesting point, Bob, since ancient wheat has been genetically modified so badly into our modern-day Triticum aestivum that current thought holds that it is truly making everyone sick, not just those suffering with celiac disease. The wheat used in current hosts isn’t the wheat of Jesus’ time at all!

 

[WingsOfEagles]

Interesting point, Bob, since ancient wheat has been genetically modified so badly into our modern-day Triticum aestivum that current thought holds that it is truly making everyone sick, not just those suffering with celiac disease. The wheat used in current hosts isn’t the wheat of Jesus’ time at all!

It’s a very good point. I really have trouble believing that the wheat-content of the bread had anything to do with anything when Jesus was at the Last Supper.

 

[JCLaws]

I have a very good friend who is a priest that has celiac disease. He takes the “low gluten” host. I have had it as well and it actually taste like Italian bread (Semolina). It is called low gluten, and is like 0.01% gluten or something insanely low due to the fact that it must meet cannon law standards that the host be made of wheat. It is extremely crunchy. Just an observation, and some facts to get out there. Receiving the body or precious blood is the same and “counts.” If you only receive one of the 2, you still receive the same amount of grace. Take a look at the USCCB site on mustum and celiac disease. It should clear up any questions.

 

[Jacqueline1966]

Just wine? The wine contains the same Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity as the Host. No reason to be sad.

The “wine” does not “contain” the same Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. That would be consubstantiation. The wine IS the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. It is changed during the prayers of consecration. It may look, taste and feel like wine, but, it is no longer wine. We should therefore, call it the Precious Blood.

 

[Jacqueline1966]

“She has decided to receive just wine when she takes Communion…”

“I think she was afraid people would think she wasn’t Catholic if she didn’t take the host.”

Methinks it’s time for one eleven-year-old receive some catechesis about the Real Presence. And I also think her parents need to help her navigate Celiac disease without calling into question individuals and entities who cannot accommodate her. There are tons of people out there with religious and medical dietary requirements, and one condition of living with them is learning how to advocate for yourself without dragging it through the papers.

Luna

Amen, sister!

 

[Jacqueline1966]

Not sure why this is in the newspaper but here goes:

dispatch.com/content/stories/faith_and_values/2012/06/01/church-bans-gluten-free-host.html

From the article: "Before Allison Sisson received Catholic Communion for the first time, her mom talked to their priest about the girl’s celiac disease, a condition in which eating wheat gluten can cause severe damage to the intestines.

The priest ordered gluten-free hosts and held one on a separate plate for that day and when she attended Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Whitehall. Before Mass, Allison’s mom, Beth Sisson, would let the priest know they were there. Allison also wore a beaded cross made by her grandmother as a reminder.

But about four weeks ago, the word came down from the Catholic Diocese of Columbus that the hosts didn’t meet Vatican standards because they didn’t contain wheat.

A low-gluten option was available, so Allison, an 11-year-old fourth-grader at Holy Spirit School, tried it. But, she said, “it tasted disgusting.”

She has decided to receive just wine when she takes Communion, even though that makes her sad, she said. …"

First of all, to say that the Body of Christ “tasted disgusting” is a terrible thing to say, albeit, she said it unknowingly.

Secondly, has anyone ever heard of people from the third world being Celiac? As Chris Rock said, “I bet no one in Africa is lactose intolerant!”

 

[EvelynEVF]

My understanding is that modern breeding has created wheat with a much higher percentage of gluten, and our more processed diets mean we eat a whole lot more of it in the developed world. So people may be celiac everywhere, it may not have enough exposure to become symptomatic. Plus, breastfeeding causes the growth of more villi in both mother and baby, so places where kids nurse for years rather than weeks would be less likely to see celiac on the scale we do in the US.

 

[Brendan]

First of all, to say that the Body of Christ “tasted disgusting” is a terrible thing to say, albeit, she said it unknowingly."

Since taste is an accidental property, not a substantial property, there is nothing theologically wrong with expressing a dislike for the taste.

And, from the article, we do not know one way or the other if what she tried was a consecrated Host, or if she was given an unconsecrated wafer prior to see if there would be an allergic reaction ( which is the recommend process)

What nominally SHOULD be done is that, when the package of wafers arrive at the parish, that the parents be given some, The girl should have tried them at home under controlled conditions to see if the level of gluten in the wafer was acceptable.

 

[Ginkgo100]

Of course a “gluten-free” host has to be made of wheat (and so would actually be low-gluten). What, this parish was using rice hosts or something? :whacky::dts:

I was wondering the same thing. I am amazed that a priest would not know that a host containing no wheat is invalid matter. The “low-gluten” hosts that are available have so little gluten as to be equivalent to gluten-free in terms of how they affect a person with celiac disease.

This is an issue we will have to address in a few years as my 2yo has celiac disease. When I read the headline, I was alarmed because I thought it was referring to the low-gluten hosts that have been developed. Wheat-free hosts have always been forbidden as invalid matter, so it is not news.

 

[Joe_5859]

Just FYI, this thread and the original news story is almost 3 months old. Not that we can’t still discuss it.

 

[Holly3278]

Not sure why this is in the newspaper but here goes:

dispatch.com/content/stories/faith_and_values/2012/06/01/church-bans-gluten-free-host.html

From the article: "Before Allison Sisson received Catholic Communion for the first time, her mom talked to their priest about the girl’s celiac disease, a condition in which eating wheat gluten can cause severe damage to the intestines.

The priest ordered gluten-free hosts and held one on a separate plate for that day and when she attended Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Whitehall. Before Mass, Allison’s mom, Beth Sisson, would let the priest know they were there. Allison also wore a beaded cross made by her grandmother as a reminder.

But about four weeks ago, the word came down from the Catholic Diocese of Columbus that the hosts didn’t meet Vatican standards because they didn’t contain wheat.

A low-gluten option was available, so Allison, an 11-year-old fourth-grader at Holy Spirit School, tried it. But, she said, “it tasted disgusting.”

She has decided to receive just wine when she takes Communion, even though that makes her sad, she said. …"

You know, just because the low gluten host tasted disgusting that does not mean that we have to accommodate her by providing a different kind of host. If she really can’t receive the Eucharistic Host then let her receive from the Chalice! After all, Christ is present whole and entire in both species.

 

[zenith15]

I really just do not understand the insistence of the Church that the host be made exactly in such and such a way with ONLY wheat and water or it won’t be “valid” matter. I mean, says who? Certainly not Jesus–I don’t recall him making any such point at all at the Last Supper. And why on earth would the good Lord want us to spend time worrying about “valid” and “invalid” matter concerning the ingredients used in the unleavened bread? Someone else noted that today’s wheat is a far cry from the wheat in Jesus’ day anyhow, as is the wine most likely, and as yet another person noted, once they are consecrated by the priest they are no longer bread and wine anyhow, so what possible difference could it make to God that we have to be so incredibly nitpicky about it? I don’t mean that rudely, honestly, it just seems a little extreme for no apparent good reason.

 

[Wildgraywolf]

I really just do not understand the insistence of the Church that the host be made exactly in such and such a way with ONLY wheat and water or it won’t be “valid” matter. I mean, says who? Certainly not Jesus–I don’t recall him making any such point at all at the Last Supper. And why on earth would the good Lord want us to spend time worrying about “valid” and “invalid” matter concerning the ingredients used in the unleavened bread? Someone else noted that today’s wheat is a far cry from the wheat in Jesus’ day anyhow, as is the wine most likely, and as yet another person noted, once they are consecrated by the priest they are no longer bread and wine anyhow, so what possible difference could it make to God that we have to be so incredibly nitpicky about it? I don’t mean that rudely, honestly, it just seems a little extreme for no apparent good reason.

I think the whole idea of the restrictions and definitions is to keep communion breads and wines as close to the original as possible in modern times. Also, perhaps to prevent communion from down grading into pancakes, waffles and fruit drinks.

 

[Filii_Dei]

First of all, to say that the Body of Christ “tasted disgusting” is a terrible thing to say, albeit, she said it unknowingly.

I agree. Clearly she needs to realise her priorities when receiving the sacraments.

Secondly, has anyone ever heard of people from the third world being Celiac? As Chris Rock said, “I bet no one in Africa is lactose intolerant!”

As a citizen of the so-called “third world” - as you put it - I have to point out to you that even though coeliac disease is rare in my country, it is prevalent in Africa and South America, as well as in Europe and North America. I’m not sure what you intend by making such a statement, but if you’re suggesting that coeliac disease is not a valid disease, you are sorely mistaken.

Also, I understand your intent to make a humorous point about lactose intolerance, but Chris Rock is wrong. In fact, lactose intolerance is common in Africa - more so than in Europe or North America. The same goes for Asia.