Gluten free hosts

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CarolNoel

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I am having a major discussion about people with issues with wheat in the Host. They say the Church they go to has a gluten free host made of rice and it is a Latin Rite Church.

Did the Church change its ruling on this and I missed it?? I have also been defending the Host as not just being symbolic, but wanted to check and make sure about the correct make up of our precious Host.

Thank you for your answers.
 
Not gluten-free but “very low gluten.”

And they still MUST be made from wheat. There’s no possible way that any kind of rice bread can be Consecrated.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Not gluten-free but “very low gluten.”

And they still MUST be made from wheat. There’s no possible way that any kind of rice bread can be Consecrated.
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Thank you for your answer. That is just what I have said. Funny thing about all of this is, this all came about on a Facebook thyroid issue page about gluten in the host.
A number of the people talking are supposed to be Catholic, but you would never know it by their comments. Thanks again.
 
When I worked as director of music and liturgy, I found some very low gluten hosts that were made by a group of sisters. From what I recall (it was a few years ago), they took great care to follow all the rules to make sure it was valid matter.

I’m pretty sure this is where I got them from: benedictinesisters.org/
 
It’s also impossible for the Church to “change its ruling”. That the Eucharist be of wheat is of divine origin, so the Church does not have the power to change it.
 
There are now several (not very many, but a handful) of host companies that make very-low-gluten hosts.

One need to look for these or similar words “Approved by the Catholic Church.”

Many companies make different kinds of breads intended for sale to Christians in general. Many of these are not valid for use at the Mass. That means not just following a rule, but that if the host is not valid matter, then no consecration occurs. No priest can consecrate a host made from rice or potato or corn etc. flour; nor from completely gluten-free flour.

The good news is that more options are available from different companies.

The caution is that one must be careful in making a choice and must be sure that it is in conformity with Catholic practice.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments. I actually won the debate. I am a retired RCIA teacher so that came in handy. Had lots of likes…
 
I’ve been attending my current parish for a little over two years now, and they’ve always made an announcement before mass that “low-gluten” hosts are available at communion (it’s part of a routine welcome message said before each mass). Interestingly, a couple of months ago, I noticed that before mass begins, the announcement wording changed to “gluten-free”, and it’s been like that ever since. Even though the wording changed, I assumed that they really just meant “very low-gluten” rather than “gluten-free”. Not sure why they changed the wording though, unless they’re using new hosts or something.
 
It has to have some wheat in it, so cannot be totally gluten free. Maybe false advertising…🙂
 
CarolNoel said:
It has to have some wheat in it, so cannot be totally gluten free. Maybe false advertising…🙂
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Well, sort of…those are not exactly the words we need to use.

It’s not a matter of “some wheat” but it has to be entirely wheat and no other grain, nor anything else (except enough water to make the wheat into dough). No rice, no corn, no potato…nothing.

It’s possible to use wheat to make a true gluten-free host, but the problem with that is that it would not be bread–not bread as the Church understands it for the Eucharist (we call all kinds of things bread in everyday life). Some gluten is necessary in order for the process of making bread suitable for the Eucharist to actually occur.

The hosts that can be used for a valid Communion (and remember, if it’s not valid, it’s not Communion) are made from nothing other than wheat-and-water but some process is used to remove almost (but not quite all) the gluten.

Like I wrote earlier, it’s important for one to know that those particular hosts have been approved by the Catholic Church. It’s just not enough to read a label with generic descriptions like “communion hosts” or “for the Lords Supper” or “low gluten wafers.”
 
tseleehw said:
I’ve been attending my current parish for a little over two years now, and they’ve always made an announcement before mass that “low-gluten” hosts are available at communion (it’s part of a routine welcome message said before each mass). Interestingly, a couple of months ago, I noticed that before mass begins, the announcement wording changed to “gluten-free”, and it’s been like that ever since. Even though the wording changed, I assumed that they really just meant “very low-gluten” rather than “gluten-free”. Not sure why they changed the wording though, unless they’re using new hosts or something.
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That’s interesting. I was wondering how that would work. If it’s for that particular Mass, is it a reminder for those who need them to go to the sacristy and tell someone, or do they just consecrate a few just in case?

Or is it rather a general announcement for future reference?
 
paperwight66 said:
That’s interesting. I was wondering how that would work. If it’s for that particular Mass, is it a reminder for those who need them to go to the sacristy and tell someone, or do they just consecrate a few just in case?

Or is it rather a general announcement for future reference?
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The priest (and deacon if there is one at the mass) always stands in the center aisle for communion and he and/or the deacon have the “gluten-free” hosts. So you would have to go there if you wanted them and tell the priest when you get up to the front of the line. I’ve seen them holding the special hosts in these separate small containers (not sure what else to call them) when I’ve gone up. I don’t know if anyone actually takes them regularly though, or if they just keep offering them just in case. It looks like they only consecrate a handful (less than 10) from what I can tell.
 
tseleehw said:
The priest (and deacon if there is one at the mass) always stands in the center aisle for communion and he and/or the deacon have the “gluten-free” hosts. So you would have to go there if you wanted them and tell the priest when you get up to the front of the line. I’ve seen them holding the special hosts in these separate small containers (not sure what else to call them) when I’ve gone up. I don’t know if anyone actually takes them regularly though, or if they just keep offering them just in case. It looks like they only consecrate a handful (less than 10) from what I can tell.
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Our parish has the low-gluten hosts available. Announcements were made the first few weeks when we started using them…the celebrant of the Mass always has them in a small container within the ciborium that he uses to distribute Communion. The people who need the low-gluten hosts go in his line for Communion rather than one of the other priests or the acolyte.

The low-gluten hosts are extremely thin and crumble very easily, by the way.
 
Glennon_P said:
Our parish has the low-gluten hosts available. Announcements were made the first few weeks when we started using them…the celebrant of the Mass always has them in a small container within the ciborium that he uses to distribute Communion. The people who need the low-gluten hosts go in his line for Communion rather than one of the other priests or the acolyte.

The low-gluten hosts are extremely thin and crumble very easily, by the way.
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Yes, this sounds pretty much exactly how they do it at my parish. Interesting that they are so brittle.
 
tseleehw said:
… Interesting that they are so brittle.
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Some new ones, made by a rather well-known company that starts with a C— are very close to regular hosts. In fact, they’re almost indistinguishable. I tried a few (unconsecrated, of course!) experimentally before using them at my own parish.

I won’t type the name, because that enters a gray area of being a recommendation or endorsement.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Some new ones, made by a rather well-known company that starts with a C— are very close to regular hosts. In fact, they’re almost indistinguishable. I tried a few (unconsecrated, of course!) experimentally before using them at my own parish.

I won’t type the name, because that enters a gray area of being a recommendation or endorsement.
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I always receive the gluten hosts. They are advertised as “gluten free” at my parish. They are not but I don’t feel the need to go around quibbling. I greatly prefer the Benedictine sisters hosts. Firstly, they are made to not look like the gluten hosts - we keep a pyx of consecrated low gluten hosts in the tabernacle and so this is valuable in our church. I believe the Benedictines were the first ones to develop these hosts and I like supporting them for that reason. I suppose that went into the gray area but it makes me happy to support the sisters 🙂

I have never had a crumbly low-gluten host but have noticed that they become sticky if the least bit moist (how they should become moist I don’t know, but it has happened) and stale very quickly if not refrigerated.
 
The terms “Gluten-free” and “low-gluten” tend to be used interchangeably - this has much to do with different food labelling standards in different places. Some places require there to be no detectable traces of gluten before something can be described as “gluten free” meaning that “low gluten” is often used instead. Other places have a less strict standard and only require the amount of gluten to be below a minimum level for something to be described as “gluten free”. If that wasn’t confusing enough, sometime “low gluten” of “may contain traces of gluten” is used when there is a risk that traces of gluten may have contaminated the food at some point during production - in other words, the manufacturer is basically saying that, while the product should be gluten free they can’t guarantee it (and so if you get sick don’t blame or sue them).

To be valid matter for the eucharist, a host must contain some detectable trace of gluten so they’re best desribed as “low-gluten” in order to avoid confusion. In the case of the hosts made by the Benedictine Sisters, they contain 0.01% gluten (or 37 micrograms).

Final,y, in my experience, I’ve never found low-gluten hosts to be either sticky or crumbly - I have however found them to be a bit more chewy than regular hosts…
 
Amator_Dei said:
I always receive the gluten hosts. They are advertised as “gluten free” at my parish. They are not but I don’t feel the need to go around quibbling. I greatly prefer the Benedictine sisters hosts. Firstly, they are made to not look like the gluten hosts - we keep a pyx of consecrated low gluten hosts in the tabernacle and so this is valuable in our church. I believe the Benedictines were the first ones to develop these hosts and I like supporting them for that reason. I suppose that went into the gray area but it makes me happy to support the sisters 🙂

I have never had a crumbly low-gluten host but have noticed that they become sticky if the least bit moist (how they should become moist I don’t know, but it has happened) and stale very quickly if not refrigerated.
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They might be “advertised” as gluten free. I completely agree that we should not quibble over the details of how the announcements are made.

In a context like this, however, a CAF discussion, we do need to make the distinction between low-gluten and not-gluten because that makes the difference between valid or invalid.

I don’t see any “gray area” about supporting the good sisters. Instead, I think we should commend them for finding a solution to a serious problem; and of course we should support them financially when we can. They waited for proper approval before they made the hosts available. I’m a bit confused as to why you would say it’s a gray area.
 
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