Rice Hosts?

[SpiritFire]

Hi.

My family and I were conversing, and the subject of gluten-intolerance came up. We also touched on the aspect that the person would not be able to receive Communion in most cases.
One of my family members piped in that they would have to use rice hosts or something besides wheat.

Doesn’t this constitute invalid matter?

Or is there an exception (like if the person could die if he/she ingested gluten or something)?

When I suggested invalid matter,
Someone in my family said that because the Vicar of Christ (the parish priest. Should they be referred to as such?) decided for pastoral reasons he could confect the sacrament with hosts made from other things besides wheat, that’s okay.
Because lex orandi, lex credendi, how the church worships (prays) She believes.

Which to the person in question apparently means a priest can do whatever he wants and will still be with the Church.
(i.e., the priest decides how the Church will pray, and thus in doing so decides what She believes)

Thus, if the Church decided (or more precisely, parish priest or bishop decided) to use rice hosts, that would be okay.

This doesn’t seem like the right approach to the phrase Lex Orandi Lex Credendi.

I thought the Pope was the Vicar of Christ, and although the priest acted in persona Christi he does not have authority in certain liturgical or pastoral decisions.
(like not saying the Mass as promulgated in the Roman Missal in all respects)

Like I said, is there any exception? What should I tell them?
Help please!!

 

[ConstantineTG]

Rice hosts are invalid matter.

The “gluten-free” hosts are made of wheat starch, so still wheat. It also still has gluten but very, very low amounts of it.

The Pope cannot change the signs of the Sacraments. Sacraments are outward signs of an inward reality. If you change the outward sign, then you lose the inward reality.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Rice hosts are invalid matter.

The “gluten-free” hosts are made of wheat starch, so still wheat. It also still has gluten but very, very low amounts of it.

The Pope cannot change the signs of the Sacraments. Sacraments are outward signs of an inward reality. If you change the outward sign, then you lose the inward reality.

Right. Also, the person could receive the Precious Blood instead of the Body (host).

And if the person happened to be an alcoholic and gluten-intolerant --well, then he or she would have to make a spiritual communion instead. God does not call us to do what is impossible for us. But He also doesn’t say that because something is impossible for us (like gluten or alcohol) that we can have a ‘substitute’ because we are somehow ‘entitled’ to ‘get’ what everybody else has and it isn’t ‘fair’ if we don’t.

 

[MarkThompson]

The Church has no authority to use anything for the Eucharist besides bread made from wheat flour. That includes rice flour, barley flour, rye flour, and anything else. Neither the Pope nor any parish priest can change this. There is no exception for gluten-intolerant people, who should either (1) receive from the Cup alone, (2) use a low-gluten host and/or only receive a small piece of a host, or (3) just make a spiritual communion. This was discussed in a letter from then-Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) in 2003, which you can read here along with additional remarks from the USCCB.

I’m not sure what your family member was trying to say about “lex orandi, lex credendi,” but whatever it was it doesn’t sound correct.

 

[SpiritFire]

Thanks everyone!

Questions answered! If anyone still wants to add anything, feel free

 

[ConstantineTG]

Adding to what Mark said and with regards to your last 2 paragraphs, the Pope can only change things that are matter of discipline. For example he can allow or disallow Communion in the Hand. He can force all Catholics to kneel or stand for Communion, even Consecration. But things that are a matter of dogma, he cannot change it. He can only define it, clarify it, or issue a document that will explain it in the context of a certain generation. But any Pope cannot change anything from the Deposit of Faith handed down by the Apostles. So for example he cannot change our religious worship day of Sunday into Friday. Of course for pastoral reasons people can be dispensed on certain Sundays, but it cannot be changed to become a universal norm.