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Celiac.com 08/09/2012 - Among many gluten-free catholics, there's been a good deal of excitement lately about low-gluten and gluten-free communion wafers for Mass in the Catholic church. However, much of that excitement seems to have been misplaced, at least in Ohio. That's because the Catholic Diocese of Columbus recently said that gluten-free wafers don’t meet Vatican standards because they don’t contain wheat. For Catholics, consecrated bread and wine are the literal body and blood of Jesus, and the sacrament of Holy Eucharist is “the heart and the summit of the Church’s life,” according to its catechism. Because Jesus ate wheat bread with his apostles before his Crucifixion, church law requires the host to be wheat and only wheat, said Deacon Martin Davies, director of the Office for Divine Worship at the Diocese of Columbus. Without wheat, the wafers cannot be consecrated and used in Mass, so no gluten-free wafers. In 1995, the Vatican said low-gluten hosts are valid if they hold enough gluten to make bread. Worshippers wanting the low-gluten option were required to present a medical certificate and obtain a bishop’s approval. The policy was loosened in 2003 to eliminate the medical-certificate requirement and to allow pastors to grant approval. The Vatican also said that Catholics with celiac disease could receive Communion via wine only. However, for faithful catholics with celiac disease and gluten intolerance who want to participate more fully, the low-gluten version, which some say tastes terrible, remains the only communion wafer option. U.S. Catholic bishops have approved two manufacturers of low-gluten wafers. One is the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Missouri; the order’s website says it has provided hosts for more than 2,000 celiac sufferers. The other is Parish Crossroads in Indiana, which provides low-gluten hosts made in Germany. The low-gluten wafers made by the Benedictine Sisters contain less than 100 parts per million, says Mary Kay Sharrett, a clinical dietitian at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She said the amount of gluten in one of the hosts is 0.004 milligrams and that researchers have found it takes about 10 milligrams per day to start a reaction. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed a rule that says products could be labeled gluten-free if the gluten content is less than 20 parts per million. Source: The Columbus Dispatch

Ernesto Guifaldes, M.D. of the Pontificia Unicersidad Catolica de Chile has sent me much information, is particularly knowledgeable in this area. If you have any questions about this subject, please contact Ernesto at: eguirald@lascar.puc.cl The following is a letter dated March 10, 1996, and was sent to the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences from the Vatican. It represents the official position of the Catholic Church with regard to gluten and the Eucharist. Your Eminence/Excellency: In recent years, this Dicastery has followed closely the development of the question of the use of low-gluten altar breads and mustum as matter for the celebration of the Eucharist. After careful study, conducted in collaboration with a number of concerned Episcopal Conferences, this Congregation in its ordinary session of June 22, 1994 has approved the following norms, which I am pleased to communicate: I. Concerning permission to use low-gluten altar breads: A. This may be granted by Ordinaries to priests and lay persons affected by celiac disease, after presentation of a medical certificate. Conditions for the validity of the matter: 1) Special hosts quibus glutinum ablatum est are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist; 2) Low-gluten hosts are valid matter, provided that they contain the amount of gluten sufficient to obtain the confection of bread, that there is no addition of foreign materials, and that the procedure for making such hosts is not such as to alter the nature of the substance of the bread. II. Concerning permission to use mustum: A. The preferred solution continues to be Communion per intinctionem, or in concelebration under the species of bread alone. B. Nevertheless, the permission to use mustum can be granted by Ordinaries to priests affected by alcoholism or other conditions which prevent the ingestion of even the smallest quantity of alcohol, after the presentation of a medical certificate. C. By mustum is understood fresh juice from grapes, or juice preserved by suspending its fermentation (by means of freezing of other methods which do not alter its nature). D. In general, those who have received permission to use the mustum are prohibited from presiding at concelebrated Masses. There may be some exceptions however: in the case of a Bishop or Superior General; or, with prior approval of the Ordinary, at the celebration of the anniversary of priestly ordination or other similar occasions. In these cases, the one who presides is to communicate under both the species of bread and that of the mustum, while for the other concelebrants a chalice shall be provided in which normal wine is to be consecrated. E. In the very rare instances of lay persons requesting this permission, recourse must be made to the Holy See. III. Common Norms: A. The Ordinary must ascertain that the matter used conforms to the above requirements. B. Permissions are to be given only for as long as the situation continues which motivated the request. C. Scandal is to be avoided. D. Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of the priest, candidates for the priesthood who are affected by celiac disease of suffer from alcoholism of similar conditions may not be admitted to Holy Orders. E. Since the doctrinal questions in this area have now been decided, disciplinary competence is entrusted to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. F. Concerned Episcopal Conferences shall report to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments every two years regarding the application of these norms. With warm regards and best wishes, I am Sincerely yours in Christ. The leader of the fight for Celiacs in the Catholic Church has recently died. Archbishop Derek Worlock of Liverpool was diagnosed in the 1980s with celiac disease and presented a strong case in Rome for celiac sufferers to be allowed to receive special hosts at Communion, which was reluctantly granted. He died of lung cancer on February 8, 1996.

(Celiac.com 05/14/2000) Some bishops conferences (e.g.: Chile) have allowed communicants to take communion in the form of consacrated wine alone. Nowadays, in some countries (the U.K. for instance), wafers made of wheat which contains only traces of gluten - and hence probably not deletereous for the celiac patient - are being made. The Vatican has allowed the use of such wafers through a statement of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith of June 19th, 1995. The Bishops Conference of England and Wales, for instance, has stated recently that they follow the 1995 norms on low-gluten altar breads from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In implementing these norms, the Conference established a certificate for those affected by the coeliac condition. This is then administered in the local diocese. The following comes from the report of the English and Welsh bishops meeting of November 1997. Certificate for coeliac sufferers: At its Low Week 1996 meeting, the Bishops Conference asked that its advisory panel on the coeliac condition draw up a suitable certificate for use by those with the coeliac condition to show that they have received permission for the use of low-gluten altar breads as valid matter for the celebration of Mass. Such a certificate was approved by the Bishops Conference. Britain has one of the highest rates of the coeliac condition in the world. This certificate enables sufferers to present a low-gluten host for consecration, particularly when traveling and in regions where they are not known by the priest. Those with the condition may obtain the certificate by applying to their parish priest. - Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, norms concerning the use of low-gluten altar breads and mustum [non-alcoholic wine] as matter for the celebration of the Eucharist, 22 June 1995. I. Concerning permission to use low-gluten altar breads: A. This may be granted by Ordinaries to priests and laypersons affected by celiac disease, after presentation of a medical certificate. B. Conditions for the validity of the matter: 1. Special hosts quibus glutinum ablatum est are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist; 2. Low-gluten hosts are valid matter, provided that they contain the amount of gluten sufficient to obtain the confection of bread, that there is no addition of foreign materials, and that the procedure for making such hosts is not such as to alter the nature of the substance of the bread. II. Concerning permission to use mustum: A. The preferred solution continues to be Communion per intinctionem, or in concelebration under the species of bread alone. B. Nevertheless, the permission to use mustum can be granted by Ordinaries to priests affected by alcoholism or other conditions which prevent the ingestion of even the smallest quantity of alcohol, after presentation of a medical certificate. C. By mustum is understood fresh juice from grapes, or juice preserved by suspending its fermentation (by means of freezing or other methods which do not alter its nature). D. In general, those who have received permission to use mustum are prohibited from presiding at concelebrated Masses. There may be some exceptions however: in the case of a Bishop or Superior General; or, with prior approval of the Ordinary, at the celebration of the anniversary of priestly ordination or other similar occasions. In these cases, the one who presides is to communicate under both the species of bread and that of mustum, while for the other concelebrants a chalice shall be provided in which normal wine is to be consecrated. E. In the very rare instances of laypersons requesting this permission, recourse must be made to the Holy See. III. Common Norms: A. The Ordinary must ascertain that the matter used conforms to the above requirements. B. Permissions are to be given only for as long as the situation continues which motivated the request. C. Scandal is to be avoided. D. Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of the priest, candidates for the priesthood who are affected by celiac disease or suffer from alcoholism or similar conditions may not be admitted to Holy Orders. E. Since the doctrinal questions in this area have now been decided, disciplinary competence is entrusted to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. F. Concerned Episcopal Conferences shall report to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments every two years regarding the application of these norms. Thanks are given to Tom Horwood, Esq., Catholic Media Office, The Bishops Conference of England and Wales, and to Ernesto Guifaldes, M.D. of the Pontificia Unicersidad Catolica de Chile. According to the UK Coeliac Society you can now obtain gluten-free Communion Wafers from the following: Eiren Religious Supplies Concord House Union Drive Sutton Coldfield West Midlands IB73 5TE UK