Communion Wafers

[Darissa]

We bring our own small piece of gluten-free bread for the Sacrament. We wrap it in saran wrap, and they place it on the tray. We sit in the same spot every week on the front row, so they know when they are passing the trays, to bring the one with the saran wraped piece of gluten-free bread to our row. We talked to our Bishop to get this approved, and he was really willing to help out however he could. We are not Catholic, but maybe this would work for you too? It works well for us. Good luck.

[strawberrygm]

I am not Catholic, and know hardly anything about the Catholic beliefs, so please bear with me. I mean absolutely NO DISRESPECT when I say anything. It is so sad for me to understand that being Catholic is so hard for celiacs. Its heartbreaking! I don't see how a priest can forbid you from using a cracker that is gluten free and safe for you. Especially if you add in the option of placing it in a plastic bag and then it is placed up front with the others so that it can be prayed over or blessed if thats whats needed. Why does he think he can try to guilt you into taking something that is poison to your body? It seems to me that people unwilling to work to make sure you can have a safe healthy form of communion is not concerned with you or your needs. I would think they would be proud of the fact that you take communion and your faith seriously enough to want to find that gluten free version rather than simply throw in the towel so to speak and not care that you dont take communion.

In our church, the cracker is passed down the pews and each person who has been baptised breaks a piece and passes it. Then the grape juice (wine) is passed in a tray containing individual cups.

My daughter is not yet baptised, but as soon as we found out she was celiac, I went to the pastor and asked him what we needed to do. For us we will simply have the gluten free communion wafer with us and take it at the appropriate time.

Again, please forgive me if I have stated anything too harshly, I mean no disrespect at all. It is my belief that your faith should always be placed in God, not in any man (or woman). We humans will always dissappoint each other. God understands you have celiac, and all the details that come along with that. He is pleased with the fact that you care enough about this issue to research it and try to do what you feel is right between you and him.

[Mskedi]

We bring our own small piece of gluten-free bread for the Sacrament. We wrap it in saran wrap, and they place it on the tray. We sit in the same spot every week on the front row, so they know when they are passing the trays, to bring the one with the saran wraped piece of gluten-free bread to our row. We talked to our Bishop to get this approved, and he was really willing to help out however he could. We are not Catholic, but maybe this would work for you too? It works well for us. Good luck.

Thanks for sharing this! My pastor and I were just discussing how we would work out me bringing my own bread (I've been skipping it entirely and just getting a blessing). I figured I would just take it up to the rail with me, but I was kind of bummed that I'd miss out on the communal part -- taking it from the same plate as everyone else. I'm going to suggest this and see what he thinks. I'm in the choir, so it'd be very easy to know what tray would go where.

[SJR]

Salvation does not depend on whether you take communion or not. If you can't handle any wheat, then it's not worth taking a risk.