Communion

[estelita]

What to do at church? Do you all take communion?

[eeyore]

Yes, I have homemade rice crackers that I bring along to church with me each week. All it is is cooked brown rice, whirled in a blender, seasoned if you want it that way, then dried in the oven overnight.

[mamaw]

There are several recipes floating on celiac websites. Also you can buy ready made communion wafers. A group on nuns makes them with allowable traces of gluten plus I think EnerG makes them. I haven't bought them in a long time . We use bread at my church so I just make my own now...I wrap it in foil & give it to my pastor before church & he has it at the alter with him....

When I visit other churches I just keep it with me ...

hth

mamaw

[Wenmin]

I go to church every weekend. I do not take the host. I live in a small Catholic community which has a great turnout at church. (2-3 hundred people, four masses every weekend!) I could walk to the alter with my arms crossed over my chest to recieve a blessing without recieving communion, but I choose not to. I really need to meet with my priest and discuss this issue with him, but I already decided that God himself made me this way, he will forgive me for not getting the host at church....

[estelita]

I'm Presbyterian and we only have communion a few times a year. We don't believe it's the actual body and blood of Christ (as Catholics do), so there isn't that big of a theological concern in my mind. But it did strike me today since it was the first Sunday since I've been gluten-free. All the sudden during the sermon, it struck me - What do I do?!

In our church, the plates are brought to us by elders. So there would have to be some plan ahead of time - which side of the congregation should I sit on, etc? Very elaborate. Today, I didn't take the bread, but I did take the grape juice.

Interesting debate though!

[CaraLouise]

I have worked with two Presbyterian churches to have gluten free communion arranged. If it is by intinction (dipping the bread) then I have a separate cup and rice crackers to dip and if it is served in the plates then I have a separate plate with my crackers that the elders bring to me. I would love to answer any questions that you have.

[missy'smom]

At my small church I provide gluten-free crackers or homemade gluten-free bread so that it is gluten-free communion for all. They re-imburse me for the crackers. Last time we used the plain Glutino round ones, broken. Now I have diabetes so can no longer have grape juice either so I bring a bottle of red wine and they place a few servings of the wine in the middle of the tray and grape juice in the outer circle and let people choose which they prefer. For the bread, I make it fresh that a.m.(we have an afternoon service) and add all the eggs and milk-no subs that I do when I make it for myself, so that it will taste the best. Even though milk bothers me, the little bit that is in one cube isn't enough to cause me problems.

[samcarter]

I am a Byzantine Catholic; in our church, the Eucharist is made of leavened bread, cut into small pieces and mixed with the wine in a cup. We receive from the priest, via a spoon.

I am not so sensitive that CC is an issue. The Catholic church teaches that receiving the wine is the same as receiving both the bread and wine. So I simply asked my priest to only administer the wine to me on the spoon. So far I've been fine.

Ironically, I always baked the prosfora (altar bread) in our old church, and when my priest learned that, he asked me to start baking it for him! Again, I'm not sensitive enough to gluten that baking with flour bothers me, though I don't do it often. It is a pleasure to bake the altar bread.

Father asked if i could develop a gluten free prosfora, but after reading the canonical requirements for altar bread (that it be made of pure wheat flour, contain nothing but flour, water, yeast and salt), I told him I didn't think that was possible. That gluten free breads are always going to contain fats and eggs for structure.

[bbuster]

I go to church every weekend. I do not take the host. I live in a small Catholic community which has a great turnout at church. (2-3 hundred people, four masses every weekend!) I could walk to the alter with my arms crossed over my chest to recieve a blessing without recieving communion, but I choose not to. I really need to meet with my priest and discuss this issue with him, but I already decided that God himself made me this way, he will forgive me for not getting the host at church....

Please don't feel that I am preaching to you. This is a very personal decision, and I believe that God knows what is in your heart. I just wanted to share what we do.

We are also Catholic and go to a large (for the area) Church. When we found that my son had Celiac we talked to the priest. We did not know, but there were already two parishioners who had Celiac and were receiving the almost-gluten-free host at Mass. So now my son does as well. We have several communion stations, but the priest always has these special hosts, and we just "check-in" before Mass with the Mass cordinators to let them know we are here and they get one of the hosts. I had offered to supply them, but our priest said he considered that a parish responsibility, so they always have them in stock. Now there are 5 (that I know of) Celiac parishioners that do this.

If you want any more details just ask.

Best Regards,

Bev

[Lisa]

Open Original Shared Link

This might be of interest for those who are Catholic. It's often good to work with the Priest. Some can be very accommodating and others strict.

[daveray]

Good Question

Our Pastor (Lutheran Church) bakes his own bread. When I told him I could not take the bread he ordered gluten free wafers. One is put on a special tray. He hands me the tray during communion. I pick off the wafer so there is no cross contamination. I was very impressed with his thoughtfulness and concern.

[puddleglum]

I ordered gluten free wafers for our church (my husband is the pastor) and he keeps them in a small bowl, separate from the rest of the communion bread. He also has a second cup, smaller than the "regular one," for us so that we do not end up with CC. I thought is would really be a pain for him, but he doesn't mind and thinks it is good that others may come to our church and see that we care enough to be very careful about food issues. I think most pastors/priests would probably feel the same.

The wafers I buy are also dairy free, corn free, and soy free.

[TrillumHunter]

If you are Catholic, there is a letter from the Pontificia on this website that explains the Church teaching. Anything outside these guidelines, no matter how loving the intent, is not permissible.

Jesus is fully present in the Precious Blood you receive from the cup.

If you aren't Catholic, it sounds like you can have communion in many ways.

[Gonbad]

I am Catholic and just recieve wine at communion. Recently due to H1N1 flu worries my parish stopped providing wine at communion. As a Catholic this was very disturbing to me as I would be unable to recieve the eucharist which a vital part of our belief system.

My church does provide a gluten free host but you have to arrive at church early enough to ask either the priest or the Sancrosanct(sp?) to make sure they have it in the dish that the priest delivers communion from. Then of course you have to make sure you receive it from the priest and remind him when you are up there. I have kids and all this is a bit of a hassle so I don't do it. However now I have to.

Anyways there are gluten free hosts that are approved for use by the Catholic church.

[Lisa]

Anyways there are gluten free hosts that are approved for use by the Catholic church.

I believe they are LOW Gluten Hosts, not gluten free, provided by the Benedictine Sisters (a link was listed a few posts earlier)

[mom2blondes]

If you are Catholic, there is a letter from the Pontificia on this website that explains the Church teaching. Anything outside these guidelines, no matter how loving the intent, is not permissible.

Jesus is fully present in the Precious Blood you receive from the cup.

If you aren't Catholic, it sounds like you can have communion in many ways.

I am Catholic. I choose to get a blessing from the priest and to just get the blood. I try to go up early, so there is less of a cc issue and I watch to make sure no one dips the host in before I get there.

[dadoffiveboys]

I am Catholic. I choose to get a blessing from the priest and to just get the blood. I try to go up early, so there is less of a cc issue and I watch to make sure no one dips the host in before I get there.

I am also Catholic and since our church only gives out the Eucharist (and not the cup normally) I had to make special arrangements. The priest has a separate small chalice and keeps it separate. I tried the low-gluten hosts first even though I figured I would react.. and I did. If you react to very small amounts of gluten, then it is the wine (Precious Blood) only if you are Catholic.

[debmidge]

I am also Catholic and since our church only gives out the Eucharist (and not the cup normally) I had to make special arrangements. The priest has a separate small chalice and keeps it separate. I tried the low-gluten hosts first even though I figured I would react.. and I did. If you react to very small amounts of gluten, then it is the wine (Precious Blood) only if you are Catholic.

Dear Dad, Just to add in that the Wine at times could be cross-contaminated if the Eucharist was

ever sitting in it. I am sure that you've checked that out before you partook of it but others may know understand the significance of the cross-contamination.

D.

[mattathayde]

I believe they are LOW Gluten Hosts, not gluten free, provided by the Benedictine Sisters (a link was listed a few posts earlier)

there is one now that all available tests cannot detect any gluten (they are marked 99.9% gluten-free) and acceptable by the vatican (frankly i think the idea that it has to be certain ingredients is stupid, it would be one thing if it was to be the same bread they probably used at the last supper but its not, it also pisses me off that the vatican basically says some one with celiac shouldnt be a priest because it would interfere with their practice as a priest)

i dont take the host any more though, i just take the wine.

receiving communion is not about eating a host or drinking wine which has been transformed in to the body and blood, it is about receiving "christ". Americans dont get this taught to them as much because it is rare to run out of hosts or wine at mass where as in some places in europe it happens every mass so it is much more common to be given communion through blessing that to take it by ingestion.

you dont have to take the body and blood, many people just take the host.

just make sure not to get the priest's chalice that he breaks a piece of the host into.

i have heard some people say "i still take the host and just have faith God will protect me" and all i can do is shake my head, if some one has that much faith and religion they should also know that "you should not test the lord your God" (or what ever is written as Jesus response to satan on top of the temple)

wow i havent talked this much religion in while, im not a big "jesus" person just know way to much about the church from going to catholic school from 3-18

-matt