An important question to all Catholics.

[SeaCat]

A patient of mine has been diagnosed with an allergy which has caused her to not be able to take Communion. (Because of an ingredient in the wafers.) This has her more than a little upset. Is there any way around this? Any kind of dispensation or other way to take Communion?

Cat

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

Matzoh (sp?) crackers. Covenant churches use them. Tell her to suggest it to the priest...

Matzoh is basically unlevened bread.

Good luck.

 

[SeaCat]

Matzoh (sp?) crackers. Covenant churches use them. Tell her to suggest it to the priest...

Matzoh is basically unlevened bread.

Good luck.

I thank you much and I will pass that on.

Cat

(Isn't it strange the things we do for those under our care?)

 

[Guest]

A patient of mine has been diagnosed with an allergy which has caused her to not be able to take Communion. (Because of an ingredient in the wafers.) This has her more than a little upset. Is there any way around this? Any kind of dispensation or other way to take Communion?

Cat

Some churches use real bread and wine. Is that an option for Catholics, I wonder, and is real bread also a problem for your friend?

 

[SeaCat]

Some churches use real bread and wine. Is that an option for Catholics, I wonder, and is real bread also a problem for your friend?

I'm not sure if she can eat other types of bread or not. Her allergy is to Glutens.

Cat

 

[impressive]

As both the "bread" and "wine" are symbolic of the body & blood of Christ, I really don't think it matters what's used -- as long as it's consecrated.

 

[SeaCat]

As both the "bread" and "wine" are symbolic of the body & blood of Christ, I really don't think it matters what's used -- as long as it's consecrated.

One of the problems seems to be the idea behind the wafer of unleavened bread. According to Doctrine it has to be made of Wheat. (Just as the wine has to be made from Grapes.) If they are mixed it seems that they can't be Consecrated.

Cat

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

The Lutheran church I used to attend used real bread and wine.

hrmmm....beyond that I'm out of advice.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

One of the problems seems to be the idea behind the wafer of unleavened bread. According to Doctrine it has to be made of Wheat. (Just as the wine has to be made from Grapes.) If they are mixed it seems that they can't be Consecrated.

Cat

Give your local catholic church a call and ask the Priest Cat. I'm not catholic, but by and large, the Catholic priests Ihave spoken to know their stuff. They are singnificantly better trained than the preistes of many pther demonimations on average.

I had a friend who was catholic and developed an alerglergy to something in grapes. Now she was about as clos to being a devot Catholic as I m to being a devut muslim, but her mother was deply religious and terribly distressed. Her local priest got an affidavit froma Doctor, wrote to someone higher up and they ended up with permission (I hate to say a dispensation, but I think that's what it was) to use water instead.

You might get a hard head and get n o where, but it's worth a call. A lot of the preists I met up here were willing to go out of their way to help someone in their flock with a problem like this.

 

[SeaCat]

Give your local catholic church a call and ask the Priest Cat. I'm not catholic, but by and large, the Catholic priests Ihave spoken to know their stuff. They are singnificantly better trained than the preistes of many pther demonimations on average.

I had a friend who was catholic and developed an alerglergy to something in grapes. Now she was about as clos to being a devot Catholic as I m to being a devut muslim, but her mother was deply religious and terribly distressed. Her local priest got an affidavit froma Doctor, wrote to someone higher up and they ended up with permission (I hate to say a dispensation, but I think that's what it was) to use water instead.

You might get a hard head and get n o where, but it's worth a call. A lot of the preists I met up here were willing to go out of their way to help someone in their flock with a problem like this.

I shall pass that along. Thanks.

Cat

 

[babiesmiles]

A patient of mine has been diagnosed with an allergy which has caused her to not be able to take Communion. (Because of an ingredient in the wafers.) This has her more than a little upset. Is there any way around this? Any kind of dispensation or other way to take Communion?

Cat

readthis

and this

and this

and this

or just google " celiac disease consecreted host" or "celiac disease holy communion " and you will have lots of results , some might help you .

 

[3113]

Well, now I'm curious about the wine part of communion. Not being Catholic...does it *have* to be wine or can it be grape juice? I'm assuming that recovering alcoholics can't have the wine.

 

[cantdog]

Welch's Grape Juice was made by a Methodist, a certain Mr. Welch, for just this reason. Catholic doctrine is very clear on the grapes, but Welch's or some other such thing ought to be acceptable.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I'm a Catholic, but a poor choice to ask. I always thought that insisting that it must be wheat and it must be grapes was daft on the grounds that (1) it's symbolic and (2) it's GOD. I imagine that anyone capable of spiritually manifesting in wheat would be unlikely to be hampered by a lack of gluten. That said, as pointed out above, the wine should be a fairly simple substitute.

(Speaking wine - had a few tonight - forgive any lapses in tact or decorum. Can't judge either at the moment.)

Shanglan

 

[English Lady]

I do hope she can find a solution, 'cos I know God won't mind -it's the action not what is taken that counts.

One of the most poignant communions I have taken was in a tent in the middle of a field in wales. We had a slice of cheap white bread on a plastic plate and some blackcurrant juice in a plastic cup. It didn't matter what we ate and drank, it's what it symbolised that really mattered.


(sorry for the rambling there Cat )

 

[Guest]

I'm a Catholic, but a poor choice to ask. I always thought that insisting that it must be wheat and it must be grapes was daft on the grounds that (1) it's symbolic and (2) it's GOD. I imagine that anyone capable of spiritually manifesting in wheat would be unlikely to be hampered by a lack of gluten. That said, as pointed out above, the wine should be a fairly simple substitute.

(Speaking wine - had a few tonight - forgive any lapses in tact or decorum. Can't judge either at the moment.)

Shanglan

My apologies in advance for the threadjack but I have to say that I'd love to drink wine with Shang. I would love to see a drunk horsie.

 

[BlackShanglan]

My apologies in advance for the threadjack but I have to say that I'd love to drink wine with Shang. I would love to see a drunk horsie.

Not sure about seeing us, but I think they could probably hear us a block away. We were quite merry in our cups.

 

[3113]

I'm a Catholic, but a poor choice to ask. I always thought that insisting that it must be wheat and it must be grapes was daft on the grounds that (1) it's symbolic and (2) it's GOD. I imagine that anyone capable of spiritually manifesting in wheat would be unlikely to be hampered by a lack of gluten.

I like your point. I mean, really, if you're going to spread God around the globe, then shouldn't subsitutes be allowed? When you arrive at that South Sea Island, or the top of that high, rocky mountain or Antarctica, and all the natives want to convert and have communion...but there's no grapes and there's no wheat and no chance of growing them...

Shouldn't that say to one that God is open to other options? Or does that say that God doesn't want worshipers from any place that can't grow grapes/wheat?

Granted, of course, that I'm not Catholic...and granted that religions do like to set limitations to make the religion a religion. Because, afterall, going to the most logical conclusion from there...if anything can count, then it really doesn't matter what you call God or how you worship him, it's all good. Which, um, most religions don't believe because it would make them moot.

Does that makes sense?

 

[Liar]

I'm not sure if she can eat other types of bread or not. Her allergy is to Glutens.

Cat

Isn't gluten allergy and celiac disease common enough that most church communities are aware of the problem?

 

[babiesmiles]

Well, now I'm curious about the wine part of communion. Not being Catholic...does it *have* to be wine or can it be grape juice? I'm assuming that recovering alcoholics can't have the wine.

In great part of catholics churchs people who takes the Holy Communion doesn't have to drink the wine ( just the priest has to drink it during the consecration ) , they must just have the consecrated host .

That's why the grape issue was not so debated as the wheat one. So unless the recovering alcoholic is the priest the wine matter shouldn't be a great problem !

 

[Liar]

In great part of catholics churchs people who takes the Holy Communion doesn't have to drink the wine ( just the priest has to drink it during the consecration ) , they must just have the consecrated host .

The local church have been running non-alcoholic wine for the last fifteen years. And non-gluten wafers.

 

[angela146]

OK, folks, a little lesson in Catholic doctrine, subtopic: transubstantiation.

During communion, the host is not actually bread. It just looks like bread. Its substance has been transformed into the body of Christ. Hence there is no wheat or gluten in it.

For that reason, you will find that the church is unwilling to bend on this issue.

I would refer you to the first linked page on babiesmiles post above:

A little over a year ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once again took up this question on behalf of the Holy Father when he wrote: “Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.”2

 

[English Lady]

Surely though, that means it doesn't matter what the bread IS as Catholics believe it becomes the body of Christ? Or am I missing something...

 

[angela146]

Surely though, that means it doesn't matter what the bread IS as Catholics believe it becomes the body of Christ? Or am I missing something...

Exactly the point...

The only way a gluten allergy would matter is if the bread didn't actually transubstantiate.

 

[English Lady]

Exactly the point...

The only way a gluten allergy would matter is if the bread didn't actually transubstantiate.

Ahhhhhhhhh I getcha.