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Communion Question

pogirl1786

By pogirl1786
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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pogirl1786 Apprentice
pogirl1786
Posted

my church has gluten free wafers that i can take for communion, but i was wondering....if i dipped my gluten free wafer in the same juice as everyone else, wouldn't that get me some gluten? i don't know why i didn't think about it before, but i was wondering what anyone else did for communion...just not take anything, or what?

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ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I am not a expert by any means but I would not chance it. Perhaps youjr celebrant could bless a seperate small glass for the celiacs?

  • 3 weeks later...
LeeV Apprentice
LeeV
Posted

Hello,

My daughter was diagnosed 2 months ago and hasn't been able to receive communion since. Where does your church get their gluten free wafers? I don't know if you read an article recently about a little girl w/celiac who made her first communion w/a gluten free wafer. The priest from her parish was reprimanded for allowing it and they turned around and would not consider her having made her communion. It was null and voided! How unfair.

Lee

flagbabyds Collaborator
flagbabyds
Posted

I wouldn't at all take the chance!!!! YOu would defenitly get some gluten because there are wafer crumbs in there and then as soon as you put your gluten-free wafer in there it ccan pick up the gluten crumbs adn you can get sick

sctwelk Newbie
sctwelk
Posted

Remember the communion wafer is just a symbol and shouldn't be viewed as anything as special as the Pope/church would like you to believe! Communion does not bring you any closer to God, He knows and sees our hearts! I bring my own wafer-substitute for communion at my church. Only God sees and knows what is going on and I know He understands! PTL.

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

I assume that if you dip the wafer in a community vessel you might get some tiny fraction of gluten. I'm not very sensitive so I'm not certain it's something I would worry about once a month, to be be completely safe you could ask to be first or to have a a separate cup.

It's hard for non-Catholics to understand how important communion is to Catholics (I am NOT Catholic). Not being able to take full communion cause deep spiritual pain for some Catholics.

richard

Alexolua Explorer
Alexolua
Posted
I'm not very sensitive so I'm not certain it's something I would worry about once a month

Having been raised Catholic, I know it would be more than once a month. My family, it would be once a week. Think that was normal? Though if someone is going to church more, than that'd be getting it more than though.

No offense or anything. Just thought I'd mention that, since you didn't know, not being Catholic. =)

pogirl1786 -> I'd agree with Molly, don't risk it. Maybe you can just take it without it being dipped if you can't get a seperate glass of wine? My church, we took the waffer, than took a sip of wine.. though I never took the wine, cuz it was yucky, LOL.

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Niteyx13 Explorer
Niteyx13
Posted

I am a non-denominational Christain and we take communion in church every week. We coincider it very important, not in the belief that it will bring us closer to the Lord, but because we feel we need to remember what Christ did for us more than just a couple of times a year and on Easter. So, it is not just catholics that find it special. We have a very nice quiet prayer/rememberance time during communion. We do the same thing in my church where we dip the bread in the juice as it is passed around. There is one other lady that I know of with diagnosed celiac in my church and we both use gluten-free wafers that the church provides. Neither of us have ever had any problems. I would say unless you are extremely sensitive then it would be alittle paranoid to be afraid of getting gluten from communion as long as you are using a gluten-free wafer. Just my opinion.

Deanna

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

Many denominations do communion just once a month with a few more thrown in for special occasions. I would NOT eat the host with gluten myself. When I made the once a month comment, I was talking about dipping a gluten-free host in wine that might be contaminated by crumbs from non-gluten-free hosts. Obviously this would not happen in the Catholic church since gluten-free hosts are not allowed. I was, in fact, aware that it would be more than once a month in the Catholic church. I got lots of Catholic friends.

richard

Alexolua Explorer
Alexolua
Posted

Sorry then Richard. Good points, and no offense meant. Was just trying to be overly helpful, like usual. Not always a good thing. =)

kvogt Rookie
kvogt
Posted
Remember the communion wafer is just a symbol and shouldn't be viewed as anything as special as the Pope/church would like you to believe! Communion does not bring you any closer to God, He knows and sees our hearts! I bring my own wafer-substitute for communion at my church. Only God sees and knows what is going on and I know He understands! PTL.

Communion is NOT a symbol in the Catholic faith. It's much more than that to us. I request that non-Catholics cease posting disrespectful comments and opinions about something you are simply not qualified to discuss. This is not the forum for it. Please take it someplace else.

tarnalberry Community Regular
tarnalberry
Posted

While I would no longer call myself a Catholic, when I was, I DID see communion as a symbol. Not all Catholics believe in transubstantiation, no matter what the church teaches.

celiac3270 Collaborator
celiac3270
Posted

------

Niteyx13 Explorer
Niteyx13
Posted

What is transubstantiation? I know very little about catholism, so I am curious.

Deanna

catfish Apprentice
catfish
Posted
Communion is NOT a symbol in the Catholic faith. It's much more than that to us. I request that non-Catholics cease posting disrespectful comments and opinions about something you are simply not qualified to discuss. This is not the forum for it. Please take it someplace else.

Not everyone on Earth is Catholic, and in most religions it IS symbolic, so please be respectful of that too. For one to say that communion is symbolic is not disrespectful to you any more than it is for you to say that it is not symbolic is disrespectful to them. Nobody can force you to agree with them but that doesn't mean that they haven't any right to post their opinions.

Ruby Rose Newbie
Ruby Rose
Posted

As one who was raised in the Catholic Church, including 8 years of Catholic school, I fully understand what receiving Holy Communion means to Catholics. I was taught that a miracle takes place when the Communion Host/Eucharistic bread is consecrated by the priest during Mass, which causes the Host to actually become the Body of Christ.

When I first learned that I could no longer eat wheat, I wondered if the consecrated Host would be safe, according to what I had learned and believed as a child, while preparing for my first Communion. If the miracle really takes place, why is it still dangerous for those living with celiac, to receive the wheat Host? Yes, this is a rhetorical question, but I think some may understand where I am coming from.

Also, I would like to share my perspective, as to why it may seem that many Catholics are very sensitive and/or defensive, when it comes to their faith. Traditionally, at the ages of around 11 - 12, Catholics receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, when the young Catholic promises to become a Soldier of Christ, vowing to defend the faith, whenever it is challenged.

Littlewolf Newbie
Littlewolf
Posted

I am Catholic and not a Celiac. . however, at my church we do not dip the wafer into the wine (only the Eucharistic Ministers actually drink the wine). Perhaps you could just take a gluten-free wafer and not the wine if you think it might cause you pain and harm. You could always talk to your priest about it, I'm sure he would better be able to take into consideration your situation and the chuch. Maybe he can accomidate you (and maybe others).

If all else fails, you could try to be the first one up there everytime so no other wafer has touched the wine. ;)

debmidge Rising Star
debmidge
Posted

I think that if we go back to the problem that the little girl in Brielle had, it was because the Archdiosese wouldn't allow the gluten-free host in the first place. As to the wine, the communicant would never know if they had sipped the wine before the hosts were place into the chalice. Sometimes the host is kept in the chalice and wine before Mass begins. Fragments of the communion host could be present in the wine after all the hosts are removed. This isn't a safe alternative either.

As to the miracle of the mass, it is an article of faith that the belief is that while the miracle happens, the bread and wine do not change in their appearance or basic ingredients.

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