K
kevinfraser
Guest
Jason Hurd:
Gluten intolerance enteropathy causes specific cellular damage to the intestinal lining. The protein Gliadin found in the gluten of the grains wheat, rye, barley, oats and triticale. Trust me, there’s a LOT more than just bread you can never again eat. Next time you’re in the supermarket, look at ingredients. Anything with mono- and diglycerides, or unqualified “vinegar” for instance, is not to be eaten.
The correct solution at Mass is consuming only the species of His Sacred Blood. If low-gluten hosts are available and acceptable for the degree of the patient’s gluten intolerance, what a blessing.
I must arrive at Mass in time to speak to Father, to get his permission to receive only from the cup, to ask how he’d like to handle the logistics so as to keep the Liturgy serene, and so he knows to prepare a separate chalice for consecration in which he does not commingle the host. Again, what a blessing.
Receiving this way in many parishes over the last three years, has not produced a recurrence of my symptoms. I’m an adult though, and it can be far more severe for kids.
I remember well the story of the family arguing for a “rice wafer” a few years ago. It happened right when I was being diagnosed. I must point out that they went ‘down the street’ to a Methodist congregation that welcomed them with open arms–and a ready supply of rice wafers. Once there, they were written up in Methodist publications as though they were expert Catholics, yet ten minutes before they left the Church, they didn’t understand or accept the sufficiency of the cup to receive Him.
The truth I think is quite different from a battle with a faceless, insensitive Curia to preserve the dignity of a sick little working-class American girl. That is a conveniently sinister image, isn’t it? And since it’s only an image, and not the truth, the sinister image’s truthfulness is pointless to debate.
This grieving Mother and Father sought, then refused to accept, the holy instruction of Rome. Their misplaced compassion was preventing their little girl from being the “odd man out.”
The real social problem with celiac is that we take bread so much for granted that when it becomes a threat to our life, so we must never eat it again, this carries a surprisingly large emotional adjustment. Removing simple bread causes great discomfort.
He provides for me specially at the Eucharistic Banquet, because of my tiny little affliction, so I now receive on both knees. But there is a certain pang at every other meal. Appreciate simple bread, my friends. There is truly nothing in the world like it.
And imagine what it is to enforce prohibition to a seven year old against bread, or spaghetti, or most ice creams (mono and diglycerides) and most prepared sauces (“vinegar” which may be a problematic grain vinegar). No more Doritos, no more of most candies. Birthday cake.
Yes, the prayers are for the loss of the little ones whose parents make them political footballs in an acting-out of misplaced anger for the Church, which is really about their own reaction to the new dietary restrictions and expense, not to mention the child’s and family’s emotional adjustment to the Celiac disease.
It’s only bread, you might say. I would never have imagined such a thing were possible until I experienced it myself. celiac.com
And pray for these little ones whose sorrowing parents refuse the good and proper remedy to their affliction as though it were a prideful fault of Jesus’ Church.
Jason, speaking as a Celiac, there is no stubbornness from the Church. Valid sacraments require specific form and matter. In the case of the Eucharist, the matter is plain bread and plain wine. Nobody has authority to change this requirement no matter what. Any argument around this is from lack of information or understanding.
Gluten intolerance enteropathy causes specific cellular damage to the intestinal lining. The protein Gliadin found in the gluten of the grains wheat, rye, barley, oats and triticale. Trust me, there’s a LOT more than just bread you can never again eat. Next time you’re in the supermarket, look at ingredients. Anything with mono- and diglycerides, or unqualified “vinegar” for instance, is not to be eaten.
The correct solution at Mass is consuming only the species of His Sacred Blood. If low-gluten hosts are available and acceptable for the degree of the patient’s gluten intolerance, what a blessing.
I must arrive at Mass in time to speak to Father, to get his permission to receive only from the cup, to ask how he’d like to handle the logistics so as to keep the Liturgy serene, and so he knows to prepare a separate chalice for consecration in which he does not commingle the host. Again, what a blessing.
Receiving this way in many parishes over the last three years, has not produced a recurrence of my symptoms. I’m an adult though, and it can be far more severe for kids.
I remember well the story of the family arguing for a “rice wafer” a few years ago. It happened right when I was being diagnosed. I must point out that they went ‘down the street’ to a Methodist congregation that welcomed them with open arms–and a ready supply of rice wafers. Once there, they were written up in Methodist publications as though they were expert Catholics, yet ten minutes before they left the Church, they didn’t understand or accept the sufficiency of the cup to receive Him.
The truth I think is quite different from a battle with a faceless, insensitive Curia to preserve the dignity of a sick little working-class American girl. That is a conveniently sinister image, isn’t it? And since it’s only an image, and not the truth, the sinister image’s truthfulness is pointless to debate.
This grieving Mother and Father sought, then refused to accept, the holy instruction of Rome. Their misplaced compassion was preventing their little girl from being the “odd man out.”
The real social problem with celiac is that we take bread so much for granted that when it becomes a threat to our life, so we must never eat it again, this carries a surprisingly large emotional adjustment. Removing simple bread causes great discomfort.
He provides for me specially at the Eucharistic Banquet, because of my tiny little affliction, so I now receive on both knees. But there is a certain pang at every other meal. Appreciate simple bread, my friends. There is truly nothing in the world like it.
And imagine what it is to enforce prohibition to a seven year old against bread, or spaghetti, or most ice creams (mono and diglycerides) and most prepared sauces (“vinegar” which may be a problematic grain vinegar). No more Doritos, no more of most candies. Birthday cake.
Yes, the prayers are for the loss of the little ones whose parents make them political footballs in an acting-out of misplaced anger for the Church, which is really about their own reaction to the new dietary restrictions and expense, not to mention the child’s and family’s emotional adjustment to the Celiac disease.
It’s only bread, you might say. I would never have imagined such a thing were possible until I experienced it myself. celiac.com
And pray for these little ones whose sorrowing parents refuse the good and proper remedy to their affliction as though it were a prideful fault of Jesus’ Church.
