Gluten-Free Wafers in Communion

[Kevin12]

Apparently, this has become quite an issue in some churches, and not just catholic ones:

Part 1:
allbeggars.blogspot.com/2011/06/case-for-gluten-free-christ.html
Part 2:
allbeggars.blogspot.com/2011/06/jesus-used-wheat-probably.html

I personally think that offering ‘low gluten’ wafers instead of ‘gluten-free’ wafers is ridiculous! Nowhere in the bible nor in any other document does it specify that the host has to contain gluten. And for people with severe celiac disease, ‘low gluten’ wafers aren’t even an option! Some of these people can even get reactions from people who even TOUCH gluten items and then touch the celiac’s food.

I am lucky that I am only ‘gluten intolerant’, and not celiac, so I can have the tiny bit of bread once a month at the methodist-style communion. But what are your thoughts on this matter? Should churches, regardless of denomination, be able to accommodate celiac/gluten sensitive parishioners by request?

Personally, even if this gets me slammed, I’ve got to say - I am sympathetic to the view that the absolute need to have the host be wheat seems silly. Indeed, the bread Christ used at the Last Supper may well have been unleavened barley chametz. I am aware this is laid down in canon law as a requirement, but I would hope this is more a matter of tradition like clerical celibacy than absolute dogma. It seems like the just the sort of legalism Christ warned us against time and time again.

 

[NickD]

Personally, even if this gets me slammed, I’ve got to say - I am sympathetic to the view that the absolute need to have the host be wheat seems silly. Indeed, the bread Christ used at the Last Supper may well have been unleavened barley chametz. I am aware this is laid down in canon law as a requirement, but I would hope this is more a matter of tradition like clerical celibacy than absolute dogma. It seems like the just the sort of legalism Christ warned us against time and time again.

Yes, silly old Church with all it’s “legalism”…

How could the bread used at the Last Supper been made from barley? What is the reasoning?

If the Eucharist is the perfected Paschal offering…why would Jesus use barley bread? Rather, it makes sense that He would use unleavened wheat bread, so that He could bring the Passover to perfection in continuity with it’s origins…

Again, why barley? It isn’t tradition or Tradition. It doesn’t make theological sense, either. I don’t get it

Ironically, Wikipedia says that chametz is made from grains that “people with celiac disease…must avoid.” At least, that is how I understood the article…the Wiki page also specifically says that chametz is leavened, not “unleavened barley” as you seemed to state.

So yes, I don’t like your comment, not only because of its tone, but also because you contradict your source, or vice versa…

By the way, I’m pretty sure the matter of a sacrament can’t change. You can’t baptize with soda. You can’t Confirm with wine. You can’t consecrate the Eucharist without wheat bread and grape wine

 

[Kevin12]

Yes, silly old Church with all it’s “legalism”…

How could the bread used at the Last Supper been made from barley? What is the reasoning?

If the Eucharist is the perfected Paschal offering…why would Jesus use barley bread? Rather, it makes sense that He would use unleavened wheat bread, so that He could bring the Passover to perfection in continuity with it’s origins…

Again, why barley? It isn’t tradition or Tradition. It doesn’t make theological sense, either. I don’t get it

Ironically, Wikipedia says that " At least, that is how I understood the article…the Wiki page also specifically says that chametz is leavened, not “unleavened barley” as you seemed to state.

So yes, I don’t like your comment, not only because of its tone, but also because you contradict your source, or vice versa…

By the way, I’m pretty sure the matter of a sacrament can’t change. You can’t baptize with soda. You can’t Confirm with wine. You can’t consecrate the Eucharist without wheat bread and grape wine

You say "the Wiki page also specifically says that chametz is leavened, not “unleavened barley” as you seemed to state."

However, I said what was used at the last supper was could have been unleavened barley chametz - unleavened chametz is called matzo. Chametz (and likewise matzo) can be made from:

שיפון Shippon (shifon) – einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum),
כוסמין Kusmin – emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccon),
חיטים Ḥittim – durum wheat (Triticum durum) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum),
שעורים Se’orim – six row barley (Hordeum vulgare), and
שיבולת שועל Shibbolet shual – two row barley (Hordeum vulgare).

So, as to “If the Eucharist is the perfected Paschal offering…why would Jesus use barley bread?” he would do it because barley was equally acceptable.

As to the fact that "chametz is made from grains that “people with celiac disease…must avoid”, that’s because barley has gluten in it just as much as wheat does.

You say “By the way, I’m pretty sure the matter of a sacrament can’t change. You can’t baptize with soda. You can’t Confirm with wine. You can’t consecrate the Eucharist without wheat bread and grape wine.” And all I can say is, if that isn’t legalism, where shall legalism be found? I just can’t imagine the Jesus of the Gospels would call this absolute insistence on there being wheat in the host anything but pharisee-ism, particularly in the way it seems to inspire the sort of self-righteousness I see in the comments on this post.