Communion Wafer

[linz7997]

so...has anyone been able to take communion but avoid the wheat-y wafer (by asking that they be switched or have a special one or something??)....or are they even made w/ wheat to begin w/...i have no clue except that i had a headache all day yesterday until it dawned on me that the wafer was prob the problem...

[CarlaB]

Communion wafers are wheat. If you're Catholic, this is the US Bishop's statement on celiac -- Open Original Shared Link

Other faiths generally allow rice crackers for substitution, but the Catholic Church does not allow it. I just take the cup myself. There are low-gluten hosts that are okay for many people, but they're still not gluten-free, and I'd worry about cc even if they were.

[linz7997]

thanks...i am catholic so....all thats what i thought...no drinking out of the community cup for me...seems like if everyone just took the wafer and then all drank from the cup....well the thought of drinking after the whole church is enough to turn my stomach!! ha!!

[CarlaB]

thanks...i am catholic so....all thats what i thought...no drinking out of the community cup for me...seems like if everyone just took the wafer and then all drank from the cup....well the thought of drinking after the whole church is enough to turn my stomach!! ha!!

I sit up front and go first after the Eucharistic Minister when I'm visiting another parish .... at my regular parish, I play flute with the choir and we receive first anyway. I've never had a problem, even if I'm two or three rows back, and I'm very sensitive. I wouldn't sit at the back of the church though.

[2kids4me]

You may want to have a chat with the priest. Both children are celiac and we attend Catholic Mass. They have been confirmed by the Bishop with a separate chalice. No pieces of the wafer are added (as is done during preparation of the gifts). The children go up to the Altar and recieve the Precious Blood from the chalice and then Communion procedes for the rest of the congregation. The children actually head up to the Altar after the "Peace be with you" and stand off to the side. no fuss, no muss

[hannahsue01]

They DO make gluten free wafers. My grandmother has them at her church.

[debmidge]

They DO make gluten free wafers. My grandmother has them at her church.

....let her know the brand name in case she's not Catholic (only because as Catholic they have to have some wheat in it due to church law).

Now that I think about it, I think Ener-G makes the wheat free one...

[grantschoep]

I know in the stricter Luthern churches(my parents church Missouri Synod) they will not allow anything but wheat wafers. Though, many Luthern churches do bare huge similarities to Catholisim. When I got with my parents Churc I just palm the wafer. It really ticks my mom off, as "your Dad eats them all the time" But I know I am way more sensitive to gluten than he is.

[olalisa]

Now that I think about it, I think Ener-G makes the wheat free one...

I am Moravian, so we don't require our wafers to have any wheat.

I ordered mine from Ener-g.com and will store them in an airtight container at church where we store the other wafers. That way I can share with the other person with celiac in the congregation. I plan to get my own before the service and let the pastor bless it as he goes by to serve the other members.

[RiceGuy]

I wonder if the churches which require a wheat wafer are aware that they still aren't using what was used in Biblical times. Modern day wheat is extensively hybridized, and typically contains 12 or more sets of chromosomes, while the wheat back then had only two, and sometimes four sets. There is no commercial production of the original wheat varieties, though it does still exist. It could be cultivated as long as it is done in an isolated environment like a green house, so that the pollen from modern hybrids doesn't contaminate the crop.

I doubt any wheat-based food like a bread can be made like it used to be, since the amount of gluten has been multiplied so much. The resulting consistency is surely different, so anyone would be able to tell the original food item from the modern equivalent.

[CarlaB]

I wonder if the churches which require a wheat wafer are aware that they still aren't using what was used in Biblical times. Modern day wheat is extensively hybridized, and typically contains 12 or more sets of chromosomes, while the wheat back then had only two, and sometimes four sets. There is no commercial production of the original wheat varieties, though it does still exist. It could be cultivated as long as it is done in an isolated environment like a green house, so that the pollen from modern hybrids doesn't contaminate the crop.

I doubt any wheat-based food like a bread can be made like it used to be, since the amount of gluten has been multiplied so much. The resulting consistency is surely different, so anyone would be able to tell the original food item from the modern equivalent.

This is a good point. I can't answer it, I'm Catholic and follow the Church's decision on this, but nonetheless, it's a good point. Their wheat was what their bread was generally made of, our wheat is what our bread is generally made of, so I'd bet they went more along the lines of that type of thinking.

[2kids4me]

Taking either the wafer or the wine (Body or Blood), is condisdered receiving Communion in full.

If you want to receive Communion - take the gluten-free option of wine prepared in a separate chalice.

This is an acceptable and easy solution.

Many still think that to receive Communion, you must receive the wafer, this is not so.

This is a particular challenge to Catholics, who believe that the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the reception of Holy Communion are the very source and summit of the Christian life. Priests should show great pastoral sensitivity and compassion to anyone afflicted with this disease, but especially to the parents of children with a gluten intolerance at the time of their first Holy Communion.

Can low gluten hosts be used at Mass?

The Secretariat for the Liturgy of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference has devoted considerable resources to this question for the last seven years. Within the past year, the Secretariat has successfully assisted the Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde Missouri in the production of a very low-gluten host which has been favorably reviewed by the publication Gluten-Free Living as “perfectly safe”1 for sufferers of Celiac Sprue disease.

What if a person cannot consume low gluten hosts?

Such communicants may still receive the Precious Blood. Catholics believe that whoever receives Holy Communion only under the form of bread or only under the form of wine still receives the whole Christ, in his Body and Blood, soul and divinity.