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<channel><title><![CDATA[Celiac Disease & Gluten-free Diet Information at Celiac.com - Comments for article: Catholicism and Celiac Disease]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com</link><description /><language>en-us</language><copyright><![CDATA[http://www.celiac.com]]></copyright><generator>N/A</generator><webMaster>scott@celiac.com</webMaster><lastBuildDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 15:07:01 PDT</lastBuildDate><ttl>20</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #1]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5191</link><description><![CDATA[Thank your for your article.  So many articles on celiac Catholics and communion focus on rules and not the whole communion experience.  From the discussion about nuns without habits I would guess that I am older than you.  Therefore, I clearly remember when Catholics were not allowed to receive from the Chalice.  I also remember when the rules changed and so many people went to Communion, received the Host and totally bypassed the Chalice.  Many older Catholics still do.  I have always rationalized that we are doing much the same thing, bypassing the Host and only receiving from the Chalice.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Francie Kelley at 4:37 am, Thu 10th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Francie Kelley)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:37:49 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5191</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #2]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5192</link><description><![CDATA[You can get low-gluten hosts from The Benedictine Sisters. I use them for holy communion and they don't bother me at all. They are made with less than 0.01% gluten content. Most people with Celiac can have them. For more information contact www.benedictinesisters.org<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Lisa at 11:17 am, Thu 10th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Lisa)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:17:00 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5192</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #3 (Reply to Comment #2)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5393</link><description><![CDATA[About five years ago, I introduced our parish to using these hosts for two members of my family.  My husband and daughter have no problem with them, and our priests are very aware and careful not to contaminate them.  They (the low-gluten hosts) are always consecrated in a separate pyx on the altar.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Mary Beth at 5:53 am, Sat 2nd Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Mary Beth)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:53:24 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5393</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #4]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5225</link><description><![CDATA[I was raised Roman Catholic, pre-Vatican 2, Catholic school to 10th grade with two years in a preparatory seminary.  I became Christian six years ago.  You should understand that Jesus is with you regardless of the host being wheat or rice.  I go to communion at my church and pass the wafer.  I don't feel like I've missed anything.  It's coming to dinner with Jesus and my faith tells me he is with me.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Ken at 8:57 pm, Sun 13th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Ken)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:57:54 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5225</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #5 (Reply to Comment #4)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5265</link><description><![CDATA[I have celiac.  It's really difficult for others to understand that it is not a matter of being picky about food.  It's really frustrating at times.
Nonetheless,  I agree with Ken.  Your heart is the temple of God and whether you eat the wafer or not, what matters is your relationship with Jesus Christ.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Isabel at 11:29 am, Fri 18th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Isabel)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:29:00 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5265</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #6 (Reply to Comment #4)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5391</link><description><![CDATA[I am working to have this acceptance as well. I know that holy communion, just as the first Last Supper, is all about being with Jesus. Yet, the author's words echo my silent feelings...it isn't always simple to forgo a practice that has been such a meaningful affirmation of my faith. It does help to know that others who love God are having to make the same adjustment! Thanks for the article!<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Diana at 10:17 pm, Fri 1st Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Diana)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:17:14 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5391</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #7]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5228</link><description><![CDATA[There is so much more that you could write about here.  The last paragraph sounds a bit more bitter about the Church than the previous ones.  For instance, what would you want to discuss when you go to "Communicate with your Priest," or to "educate your Eucharistic Ministers?"  What are you referring to when you end with "continue to practice what you believe in."
What about personal experience with pursuing the issue?  What did your pastor say to you when you spoke to him about this?  Were you the first to identify yourself to him as a person with Celiac Disease?  Had he never heard of it before?  Did you find your experience with the Catholic Celiacs organization to be adequate?
I worked in the church for years in a prior career and Celiac Disease was something discussed even at a modest-sized parish fifteen years ago.  When I first approached our priest this year about my daughter's Celiac Disease, he instantly recognized it and started discussing the specific protocol for taking a low-gluten host at our parish, what to do before Mass, and how to best keep contamination to a minimum.  Could you share your story?  Is my parish priest an anomoly?
To some of the specifics that you mention, there have been some changes in the past five years with chalices and cups that are of specific interest to Celiac Catholics.  The only cup that should come into contact with a host is the chalice that, unless the congregation is quite small, remains on the altar and is not shared.  There are specific instances of something called "intinction," which would contaminate a cup for the people, but that's rare and only done with the Presider's specific say so.  Also, there is to be no pouring of the Precious Blood after consecration (fair enough if you point out that as a redundant statement), meaning that the Body of Christ will only touch the chalice on the altar.  There are issues to discuss here, I'm not trying to gloss over that.  But you make it sound like there aren't any answers, or that they are grossly incomplete.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Bull at 2:55 pm, Mon 14th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Bull)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:55:32 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5228</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #8 (Reply to Comment #7)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5259</link><description><![CDATA[I need to apologize.  My comment came across as much too negative.  I'm thankful that you've opened up a huge issue for many folks, our family included.  The quote marks were definitely over the top.  In my self-centeredness, I think I wanted to direct your article more toward what I would have written.  Apparently that's how narcissistic I was feeling that day.  I was out of line in my tone and my negative rating.  I am still interested in what resolutions you have (or haven't) come to and how you have (or haven't) been accepted by others at your parish.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Bull at 2:06 pm, Thu 17th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Bull)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:06:27 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5259</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #8 (Reply to Comment #7)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5390</link><description><![CDATA[Thank you for apologizing. Melissa wrote about a sensitive subject in a sensitive way.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Diana at 10:09 pm, Fri 1st Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Diana)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:09:59 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5390</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #9 (Reply to Comment #7)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5409</link><description><![CDATA[How good of you to correct yourself.  Not many would be so humble.  Kudos!<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Donna at 7:48 am, Sun 3rd Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Donna)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:48:08 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5409</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #11]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5266</link><description><![CDATA[Good article.  Thanks for your insight.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Isabel at 11:30 am, Fri 18th Dec 2009)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Isabel)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:30:24 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5266</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #12]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5401</link><description><![CDATA[Thanks for your article.  I enjoyed reading it.  I grew up catholic and hearing your memory of first communion made me smile.  Thanks.  More than the technical issues of "not receiving the body", I have always been uncomfortable socially about the issue.  I go to a large church and most folks don't know why I'm not taking the host or the bread.... Its always awkward when someone offers  and I have to politely turn it down... not sure why.  I still participate and know that my heart is right, but it's an interesting social issue for us to deal with.  

Thanks again for writing about the issue... it helps to know you're not alone in struggling with the issue and faith.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by mark at 10:14 am, Sat 2nd Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (mark)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:14:13 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5401</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #13]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5405</link><description><![CDATA[Please, please contact the Benedictine Sisters, who provide very-low-gluten communion wafers made entirely from de-glutened wheat starch and water.  There is no reason for you to forgo the host.

When I was living in the USA, I didn't go to the same mass every week.  The parish priest gave me a pyx, and when I came to mass I took a host from the bag of unconsecrated wafers in my freezer and put it in the pyx, then left the pyx on the altar.  When Father saw it there he knew I was in the congregation, included my host in the consecration, and put the entire pyx (avoiding cross-contamination) into the bowl of consecrated hosts.  When I came for communion he opened the pyx and upended it to put the host into my hand, and I took the pyx with me.  It was elegant, simple for both him and me, and didn't single me out in an embarrassingly obvious way.

Please talk with your parish priest, and don't deprive yourself of Communion!  <br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Jill at 1:31 pm, Sat 2nd Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Jill)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:31:14 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5405</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #14]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5407</link><description><![CDATA[For us Protestants out there, a gluten free communion wafer is available.  Ask your priest or pastor.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Tracy at 9:57 pm, Sat 2nd Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Tracy)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:57:39 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5407</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #15]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5416</link><description><![CDATA[I am a Catholic Christian daily communicant with Celiac and allergy to wine.  It is very important to find a way of receiving Holy Communion.  There is a great difference between receiving the Eucharist (the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus) and only having the spiritual presence of Jesus in our hearts.  Reception of the Eucharist is the closest union with Jesus which we can experience in this earthly life, and it nourishes and strengthens our union with Him in our hearts.

I use the low-gluten hosts that Lisa mentioned above made by the Benedictine Sisters in Clyde, MO.  I have ordered them in some cases, and in other cases the Church office orders them.  They are the only ones made in the U.S. approved by the U.S. Bishops for consecration.   That a host must be made only of wheat has to do with sacramental theology and the way Jesus instituted the Sacrament, and it is not something the Church can decide differently ... only a host made of wheat will 'work' ... only such a host can actually undergo transubstantiation when the priest says the words of consecration.  The low-gluten hosts are shipped with a paper testifying to their legitimacy to use for consecration that you can bring with you when speaking with your parish priest if he has questions.   It is only made of wheat (wheat starch - the part of wheat with less gluten), and most of the volume is air bubbles.  www.benedictinesisters.org/bread/low_gluten.php  800-223-2772 

Some priests are familiar and will tell me just where to put my pyx containing the low gluten host and where to stand to receive.  Some are unfamiliar and I explain to keep the host in the pyx and separate from the others.  Whether a low-gluten host is used in a parish is a decision left to the pastor, but it is unlikely that once they learn about it they'd choose not to offer you this option.  If that were the case (and if you can't receive under the other species), go to the next nearest parish.  To receive under the one species or the other is equivalent (either way It is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus).  The symbolism is greater if you are able to receive under both Eucharistic species, but there is not a 'splitting' or 'halving' or 'partial' of Jesus if you only receive from the cup or only receive the Host.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Jennifer at 6:37 pm, Sun 3rd Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Jennifer)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:37:18 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5416</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #16 (Reply to Comment #15)]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment12594</link><description><![CDATA[Thank you for posting about the fullness of the Eucharist, left to us by Christ Himself.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Maureen at 8:45 am, Wed 29th Aug 2012)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Maureen)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:45:14 PDT]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment12594</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #17]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5420</link><description><![CDATA[My son has celiac and made his first communion this past May.  Our priest/church purchased Gluten Free Hosts for us.  However, as Lisa indicated above, they may have a very small amount of wheat in them.  They are labeled "Gluten Free"<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Vicki at 6:47 am, Mon 4th Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Vicki)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:47:48 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5420</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #18]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5438</link><description><![CDATA[Vicki, these hosts made by the Benedictine Sisters are not labeled "gluten free".  If they were gluten free they would not be valid for consecration and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops would not approve them for Holy Communion. They are made of wheat starch and water at a dedicated gluten-free facility and contain 0.01% gluten. I hope your pastor isn't ordering "gluten-free" hosts for your son because the lack of wheat/gluten would make it impossible for the pastor to consecrate the hosts validly according to the Catholic Church.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Lisa at 9:31 am, Thu 7th Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Lisa)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:31:06 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5438</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Comment #19]]></title><link>http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5453</link><description><![CDATA[The Blood of Christ is no less Christ than the Body of Christ.<br/><br/>
(Comment posted by Paul at 10:44 pm, Fri 8th Jan 2010)]]></description><author>no@spam.com (Paul)</author><pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:44:50 PST]]></pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.celiac.com/articles/21967/1/Catholicism-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html#Comment5453</guid></item></channel></rss>