Gluten Free Host at Mass

[TheLittleLady]

IN my experience, that has become the parlance sort of like calling Lay Readers “Lectors” or EMHCs as any number of other titles.

It is also a very easy thing to commune with a small fragment of a low gluten host.

 

[Gorgias]

IN my experience, that has become the parlance sort of like calling Lay Readers “Lectors” or EMHCs as any number of other titles.

Try telling folks “we don’t have gluten-free hosts” and see what the response is.

Many who are told “…but we do have low-gluten hosts” will say “ok!”, but not all.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Broken record here.

If someone approaches (a visitor or someone newly diagnosed) they have the option of a low gluten host, we even bring the box out to let them read the label if they come by the office OR a separate, small chalice that does not contain the fragments of a host, as outlined in the USCCB and NPCD documents I linked. Really, this is not a brand new thing nor is it rocket science. If your parish has nto read the documents, inform the office.

 

[Kindnessmatters]

Yes. And as I mentioned, he prepared and offers a separate chalice which is lovely but also serves in a different diocese, hours away.

 

[Kindnessmatters]

Unleavened bread is actually very common. For example, I am sure you are familiar with crackers and tortillas, which bear no resemblance to communion hosts.

 

[Kindnessmatters]

Perhaps you didn’t read the string. Low gluten hosts are not safe for celiac patients. I have been taking them but must stop because it is making me very sick.

Not all parishes offer the blood of Christ to parishioners. Among those that do, many priests will not prepare a separate chalice. Thus the parishioner may only make a spiritual communion, not participating at all otherwise, as if they either were not in a state of Grace or failed to fast before mass. Thus this entire discussion.

Many people are not informed on the issue of celiac safety. The church is misinformed generally on the issue and therefore offers an accommodation for celiac patients which is potentially deadly to those patients.

 

[BartholomewB]

The Vatican restates its position from time to time, for instance in this circular letter from the CDW dated July 24, 2003. It is quite clear:

A. The use of gluten-free hosts and mustum

1. Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.
2. Low-gluten hosts ( partially gluten-free) are valid matter, provided they contain a sufficient amount of gluten to obtain the confection of bread without the addition of foreign materials and without the use of procedures that would alter the nature of bread.
3. Mustum , which is grape juice that is either fresh or preserved by methods that suspend its fermentation without altering its nature (for example, freezing), is valid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...faith_doc_20030724_pane-senza-glutine_en.html

As I said in my earlier post, I sympathize with you in your impossible position, as do many of the others posting on this thread. But what, exactly, are you asking us to do? It’s not in our power to overturn a ruling by the CDW.

 

[BartholomewB]

You realize He was eating unleavened bread for the Passover, right? Ever seen matzo bread in the grocery store? It’s also kinda “totally dissimilar in taste, texture and appearance from any bread commonly served anywhere.”

Matzos, too, contain gluten. The Orthodox rabbis, like the Catholic Church, are insistent that totally gluten-free matzos are not acceptable for the Passover seder:

https://www.chabad.org/holidays/pas...Can-I-Have-Gluten-Free-Matzah-on-Passover.htm

 

[Kindnessmatters]

Maybe ask yourself this…if Jesus had a Celiac patient at his table, would he permit them a different kind of bread and still include them in His blessing? Or would he have seen a basket of flatbread made from potato and rice flour and said "forget about it…no blessing for you.’

Second question …why argue with someone who is hurt by this? Why pile it on?

Third question…how often does anyone intervene in solving each other’s disagreements with their parish in this site? I did not ask for a solution…I pointed out that policy of the church has severely alienated me, and I believe it may be the last straw for me…not with God or faith but with the human decisions like this that are ruining the church.

 

[TheLittleLady]

The church is misinformed generally on the issue and therefore offers an accommodation for celiac patients which is potentially deadly to those patients.

Did you read the official papers from the USCCB? The parish is required to make arrangements for you to receive from a Chalice.

if Jesus had a Celiac patient at his table

Jesus would have healed them.

Contact the NCPD and they will work with you and your Diocese.

 

[Gorgias]

I am sure you are familiar with crackers and tortillas, which bear no resemblance to communion hosts.

If you say so. They look a whole lot more like matzo than they do a baguette.

if Jesus had a Celiac patient at his table, would he permit them a different kind of bread and still include them in His blessing?

It’s not “inclusion in blessing”; it’s “would they have eaten the Passover bread?”. And the answer would be “no”. Then again, wouldn’t we expect that they’d have drunk from the shared cup?

Second question …why argue with someone who is hurt by this? Why pile it on?

Good question. If this is an expression of pain, and not a request for suggestions on how to proceed, then the appropriate response isn’t an attempt at a solution, but an expression of empathy.

I did not ask for a solution

And, there we go! So… Kindness: I’m sorry you feel marginalized. I’m sorry you feel there is no recourse available to you that meets your desires. I’ll be praying for you and your peace of mind!!!

Jesus would have healed them.

Nope. Jesus didn’t heal each and every person who He knew about. Do you need the citation from the Gospels?

 

[po18guy]

I am surprised anew at the things - things which will never happen - over which we argue.

I think many of us are suffering from Corona Derangement Disorder.

 

[InThePew]

Not all parishes offer the blood of Christ to parishioners. Among those that do, many priests will not prepare a separate chalice. Thus the parishioner may only make a spiritual communion, not participating at all otherwise, as if they either were not in a state of Grace or failed to fast before mass.

For what it’s worth I do actually know how you feel. After I was diagnosed with celiac disease I was receiving a special host and there were times when this wasn’t available and when the chalice wasn’t offered. Sure I was able to make a spiritual communion but that doesn’t make up for the very real sense of separation and missing out that I felt.

Many people are not informed on the issue of celiac safety. The church is misinformed generally on the issue and therefore offers an accommodation for celiac patients which is potentially deadly to those patients.

As a priest, I would agree with you on the first part but not so much the second. I’ve struggled to try and get this message across to other clergy with more than a few facepalm moments (me: “the pyx. No give me the pyx. No give me the host in the pyx”). I also struggled to find out how to reconcile receiving the eucharist with being celiac. I asked the gastrologist and he said ask the dietician; I asked the dietician and she said (in a rather bossy tone)" “well it depends on how important it is to you”. I was tempted to reply “well it’s only the source and summit of my salvation”

I adhere to a 100% GF diet (in New Zealand and Australia to be labelled as "gluten free’ a product must contain no detectable trace of gluten) although I do receive a regular host. the special hosts prepared by the Benedictine Sisters should be suitable for most - but not all - celiac sufferers. I also agree that best practice would see the host put into a pyx by the person themselves, kept well apart from regular hosts and the pyx handed to the person at communion. Where a person cannot receive a special host a dedicated chalice should be provided.

Before contacting Rome, I suggest you try and make an appointment to speak to your bishop personally about this - rather than simply dealing with “his office”. Not all communications with bishops’ office cross the bishops desk and sometimes the personal approach is what’s needed

 

[Kindnessmatters]

It’s not only not free of gluten, the low gluten host is also always cross contaminated. Every week the celebrant picks up a regular host for me, I say “gluten free please”, he puts it back, and with the same hand struggles to get the low gluten host from the tiny pyx, which it sitting in the same vessel as the other hosts (it clips on the side)…if this happened in a restaurant I couldn’t accept the meal.

I am having some problems seeing and my back is blistered. I need a job and cannot focus on applying. Sometimes my speech seems like I had a stroke. Some days walking is difficult. I was tested for MS but this is just all celiac.

I struggle feeling like I am set apart anyway, going to church alone and having PTSD related to being in a church. It feels like a losing battle.

Thank you for your understanding.

 

[Phemie]

NO! He would prepare and consecrate the wine that was going into the injection needle prior to Mass! EM would inject the consecrated wine into the child as their communion because the child could NOT eat or drink ANYTHING (even at home)!

I will take that with more than a grain of salt. It’s not even allowed to give someone Communion through a feeding tube, forget about by injection.

 

[InThePew]

It’s not even allowed to give someone Communion through a feeding tube, forget about by injection.

A bit of Googling revels some debate about this - the USCCB guidelines say no but Fr Edward McNamara (the Zenit liturgy guru) says yes (with sources to back up his position). Certainly, reception through the mouth is the normal method and, in most cases, there is no reason why this couldn’t be achieved. Aside from this, it would be up to the local bishop to decide.

 

[Kindnessmatters]

Certainly the FDA would take issue with injection of a child with wine. Cannot be legal or safe

 

[Phemie]

Phemie:

It’s not even allowed to give someone Communion through a feeding tube, forget about by injection.

A bit of Googling revels some debate about this - the USCCB guidelines say no but Fr Edward McNamara (the Zenit liturgy guru) says yes (with sources to back up his position). Certainly, reception through the mouth is the normal method and, in most cases, there is no reason why this couldn’t be achieved. Aside from this, it would be up to the local bishop to decide.

Thank you, I was going by the USCCB’s document. I still don’t see the possibility of injecting the Precious Blood. We’re supposed to consume Him, not “mainline” Him, for want of a better word.

 

[InThePew]

Thank you, I was going by the USCCB’s document. I still don’t see the possibility of injecting the Precious Blood. We’re supposed to consume Him, not “mainline” Him, for want of a better word.

Arguably a local bishop could deviate from the USCCB document if he wished but that aside, to be lear what we’re talking about is almost certainly pushing (in a sense, injecting) the eucharist (in either or possible both forms) through a feeding tube and not intravenously.

 

[Grizzly1]

That’s right, you’re correct here - he did. He held up bread - not a carrot or a turnip or a handful of seeds or a piece of fruit. HE used unleavened wheat bread .

How do you know He used wheat bread?