Gluten-Free, Catholic Communion & Christ’s Love
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith ia a very personal thing, and involves traditions that deepen our faith. But what happens for the person with Celiac Disease, when communion becomes unavailable? I’m sharing my thoughts on gluten-free Catholic communion, and faith in general.
Let Me Be Transparent: I’m not Catholic
It’s the beginning of July 2017, and the Catholic Church has released a statement. 100% wheat-free Catholic Communion wafers are not valid for Holy Communion. Before I unload my research, thoughts and feelings on the issue, I will fully confess I am not Catholic. I attend a Protestant church that believes in open Communion. Amid the headlines of the Pope Francis’ declaration, I want to state some facts that might settle some fury. I also want to share some theological thoughts and concerns on their stance.
As I stated previously, I am not Catholic. I do however hold much respect for the Pope Francis. One, because he is a fellow Christian, living out the spiritual call on his life. Also, Pope Francis has of late done much to remind all believers that we are to take care of the poor, the hurting, and to show love and compassion above all else. Therefore I am surprised about his stance on not allowing a gluten-free Catholic Communion wafer, void of wheat.
Where the Catholic Church Stands on Wheat in Communion
First, some background on the Catholic Church’s belief on communion. They believe once the wafer and wine are blessed, they transubstantiate into the body and blood of Jesus. Transubstantiate is simply a big word for “change into.” So yes, those of the Catholic faith believe they are LITERALLY consuming the body and blood of Christ. Like the sacrifices in the old testament, the host should be without defect or blemish.
This is why the wafer must be made of pure ingredients. Christ is pure, and therefore can only inhabit those things which are pure. Furthermore, this is why a true gluten-free Catholic Communion wafer is not possible in their belief. The Catholic Church believes a wafer made from grains other than wheat are not “pure” and will degrade easily.
How the Catholic Church Accommodates Those with Celiac Disease
Low Gluten Communion Wafers
Don’t run out with pitchforks and torches just yet. There are “low gluten” Communion wafers that are considered valid by the Catholic Church. These low-gluten hosts are made by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration specifically as a response to those from the Catholic faith who have Celiac Disease.
While they are made with wheat starch and water, Tricia Thompson of Gluten Free Watchdog has tested these wafers. By her testing, “The amount of gluten in one host is approximately 0.0019 milligrams. In other words the amount of gluten in any one wafer is negligible. For context, a one ounce slice of gluten-free bread containing just under 20 parts per million of gluten contains 0.57 milligrams of gluten.”
Those with Celiac Disease Have Other Options
All that to say, that those wanting a gluten-free Catholic Communion experience, there are options. If you choose to partake of these low-gluten hosts, it’s best advised to keep a small box of them of your own. All parishes may not have them available. This also helps to prevent cross-contact from other gluten grains on the communion plate. Also, those with Celiac Disease can partake of wine only, from a separate chalice. In these ways, the Catholic Church is trying to accommodate the needs of those with Celiac Disease and wheat allergies.
So far I’ve tried to explain the stance against a true gluten-free Catholic Communion wafer. I understand that although my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ serve the same risen Savior, we have different practices. However, as a Christian there are issues I have with this stance. I have heard too many comments from Catholics and non-Catholics on this issue to simply remain silent. Bare with me as I explain some of my concerns on the denial of a wheat -free, gluten-free Catholic Communion host
My Concerns with the Pope’s Stance
What a Mighty God We Serve
As previously stated, the Catholic church states that the Communion wafer must contain gluten. This is because they believe that the communion host LITERALLY becomes the body of Christ after it has been consecrated. While that’s hard to wrap my mind around sometimes, I’ll be at peace with the idea. But stating that the wafer (or host) must contain wheat for transubstantiation seems to hinder the power of the Mighty God whom we serve.
Is He not the God who spoke the world into being? Is he not the God who parted the Red Sea, restored the dead to life, and healed the blind? Surely, a God of this magnitude can transubstantiate into any form of matter He chooses. If it is a matter of having “pure” ingredients, should we not be more concerned about the purity of our “host”? It is in our hearts that the Holy Spirit dwells. Purification of our own hearts and minds should deserve greater concern than the grains of a cracker.
Making Jesus Accessible to All
Second, this policy alienates so many. There are 75 MILLION people in this world with Celiac Disease. Many more with gluten-sensitivity. When we, the church, makes rules that make it harder to come to Christ, don’t we become like Pharisees? I have a friend who left the Catholic church for very personal reasons. She stated “if this is literally the body of Christ, why would we do anything to prevent others coming to Him?”
I think of the men in the New Testament who broke a roof to get their sick friend to Christ. What about the bleeding woman who pushed through the crowds simply to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe? He did not rebuke those men for not entering through the door. He did not rebuke the woman for being “unclean.” He welcomed them because their hearts realized that He was their Messiah.
Our Infirmities Should Not Keep Us from Christ
Third, I and my fellow brothers and sisters living with Celiac Disease are not lepers. Even if we were, Christ still would still have compassion on us. However, this rule of not allowing gluten-free Catholic Communion may make those with our genetic disorder feel like outsiders. I remember the story of a woman newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease in our support group. She relayed her heartache as she realized that her new diagnosis would hinder her participation in community. She spoke candidly of how she sat in her pew and wept deeply.
I’d like to think that Jesus wept with her. Just like he did Martha and Mary at the loss of their brother. When the Curtain of the Temple was torn in two during Christ’s crucifixion, it was done to restore relationship. Restore relationship not just with God, but with each other. It breaks my heart when any church – Protestant, Catholic or otherwise- sets up rules like the Pharisees that make relationship harder. I’ve written about this issue in our own church, here.
Should Those with Celiac Disease Become Priests?
Partaking in Holy Communion is so central to the Catholic faith that remnants cannot simply be discarded. It is the literal body and blood of Christ, broken for us, and therefore must be consumed. Because of this, the Catholic Church has actually dissuaded men with Celiac Disease from becoming priests. As published in a Vatican document, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, “4. Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of a priest, one must proceed with great caution before admitting to Holy Orders [priestly ordination] those candidates unable to ingest gluten or alcohol without serious harm.”
Why would one dismiss God’s servant because of a food intolerance? Men willing to take a vow of celibacy, deny the blessing of marriage, who take the personal commitment to being a man of the cloth should be honored. One willing to make that sacrifice for Christ should not be dissuaded.
“If You Had Enough Faith…”
Lastly, I’m concerned about what precedent this stance may set. Will priests still be compassionate to those who need the low-gluten hosts? Will they be willing to order the low-gluten hosts for those that need them? Is it possible that one’s request for a separate chalice will be seen as a “bother”? My heart broke as I read a comment on the GlutenAway Facebook thread from a Catholic parishoner. “My priest told me that if I had faith, I wouldn’t get sick. That it is NOT bread but the body of Christ.”
The “if you had enough faith” comment has been used in multiple denominations, and it’s simply WRONG. I think of the story of the young man born blind. The disciples ask “Who sinned, he or his parents?” Jesus answers “Neither, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed through him.” Again and again, Christ shows that we are to be people of compassion, and not judge the faith or sin of another.
Some Final Thoughts
So thanks for bearing with me on my long article about this issue. My goal here is not to destroy and disrespect the Catholic Church. My goal isn’t even so much to make the Pope rethink his denial of a true gluten-free Catholic Communion host. (Although that would be FANTASTIC!) More than anything, I want people to see the heart and compassion of Christ.
So many times I believe traditions established by churches are out of fear of God, and not an understanding of God. While it is true that we should come to Christ in reverence for what He has done for us, God does not stand ready to smite us if we get something wrong. He is our Abba, Father. We are His children. He defines us by our relationship with him, not our body’s relationship to wheat protein particles.
What’s your take on this issue? Please share your thoughts, keeping in mind that this is a sensitive issue and I will not tolerate demeaning comments from either side of the argument. How has your congregation or parish accommodated your Celiac Disease or food allergies? You can read my post on how I’d like to educate priests and pastors on that issue here.
For more on this topic, listen to my Celiac Project Podcast interview with Mike and Cam. (Audio starts at 30 seconds.)
Well written and beautifully thought out piece! The way you have treated this subject with mutual respect and love is so admirable. I am also not Catholic, but I appreciate your explaination and thoughts on this issue. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and for all the advocacy you do every day for the celiac community!
Dear Sarah,
Thank you for your kind words. It is for sure a topic that requires a lot of soul searching and humility.
As a Catholic celiac, I cannot thank you enough for this post Margaret! You highlighted all of the things I’ve struggled with on this issue. I appreciate you!
You’re welcome. As i mentioned, I’m sure there are many things I may not understand about Catholicism. I can only try to express who I think Jesus to be.
Please sign my petition for a Gluten Free Eucharist option in the Catholic Church.
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gluten-free-eucharist-in-the-catholic-church
This piece was very comforting. As an Episcopalian whose faith shares the same beliefs regarding communion as Roman Catholic, I have been struggling with this. Thank you.
So glad I was able to provide you comfort on a very challenging topic. <3 Sincerely, Margaret
Thank you for writing this wonderful article! My eyes brimmed with tears. I am allergic to the tiniest speck of gluten as well as to wine and alcohol in general. You can add to that an allergy to all grains, beef, pork, dairy, nuts, fish, and most kinds of produce. Many of those food allergies are life-threatening to me, as are my allergies to latex and many chemicals. And there are thousands of people like me with the same life-threatening allergies! I am also Catholic, and I feel the loss of not being able to partake in the Eucharist. However, I completely agree with your take that this is not how Jesus would want it to be. He doesn’t want anything separating us from him. I have accepted (mostly) that the church will not likely change this law during my lifetime. But I do find it hypocritical and hurtful. Thank you for your thoughtful message. I will continue to focus on my personal relationship with God, as I feel his complete love and acceptance in my soul, regardless if my immune system can tolerate the details in the ingredients for “valid” communion.
Dear Jo,
Thank you so much for sharing about your experience. I remember what it was like for me when I couldn’t partake in communion. I always wondered if people were wondering while I was still sitting in the pew. Even if they weren’t silently judging me, I couldn’t help feeling ashamed that I wasn’t partaking in Communion. Like you, I believe that Jesus sees us, and loves us, as we are. Regardless of whether or not we’re taking part in a church tradition.
I pray that the pope will consider what you have said. It is very sad that the church would deny the use of gluten free bread, thus denying receiving Holy Communion to Catholics with celiac disease.
Excellent article, you skillfully laid out the issues with the RC church on communion. I had been Catholic most of my life. I am now alienated from the Catholic Church as a celiac and allergic to alcohol (wine) and so I am unable to participate in communion which is central to the catholic mass. I left, was lost and now attend an Anglican Church where gluten free hosts are available, and communion is given the same reverence and celebrated weekly. I wept the first time I was able to receive communion in years.
Thank you for reading and your kind comments. It’s defintely a sensitive topic. So glad to hear you’ve found a church that accepts you as you are and makes communion accessible to you again. I too have a new church, and am so glad at their willingness to do gluten free communion. I’ve even gone to making homemade bread for our church, for communion purposes. (We only have communion once a month.)
I am Catholic and I certainly appreciate the effort on your part to shed understanding on the postion of the Church on gluten and Holy Communion and the difficulties this presents to those who are highly sensitive to gluten. To help solve this issue, could it not be possible to have the tiniest morcel of Communion (from a low gluten wafer or wheat wafer) given to a recipient. This morcel could be a very small crumb. So small that the amount of gluten would be next to negligent.
Or maybe have a single drop of th Precious Blood in lieu of the Bread. It would still be Christ that the individual would be recieving completely since God cannot be divided. How much gluten is toxic?
I am a Roman Catholic who is fortunate enough to have several parishes nearby that offer low gluten hosts during Communion. There are many smaller parishes that do not offer these, however. A priest at a parish that I often attend with my son, although not my home parish, offered to give me a small supply of low gluten hosts, unconsecrated, that I can bring with me to Mass at those parishes that do not have them available. I confer with the priest before Mass and ascertain how I can receive Communion with the consecrated low gluten host, which has been placed in a separate pyx. If there aren’t any low gluten hosts readily available from a nearby parish, it may be possible to order some from one of the approved companies that churches get them from. I have not contacted any of these companies so I cannot confirm this.
I’m Celiac and Catholic. A gluten-free host will never be valid matter unfortunately. There has to be wheat for the consecration to be valid (to become the body of Christ). As Catholics, the Eucharist really is the body of Christ. So, it’s not the pope’s decision to make. No amount of petitioning will do any good. Those at our church who receive the Low Gluten hosts are satisfied and have not had trouble with the low gluten hosts. The problem is that at the time of Christ, wheat was not hybridized to contain more gluten like it is today. There was no problem then. The solution is for Low Gluten host manufacturers to start using unhybridized, low gluten wheat flour such as Einkorn.
As a Catholic with 2 kids that are Celiacs, there is a lot of misunderstanding in this post. I’ll just say that would we tell Christ himself how his sacrifice should look or would we have told the Israelites what their sacrifices should look like?
I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to chime in with something else that could be helpful:
The Catholic teaching on the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is that receiving either the host or the chalice is the same as receiving both. Put another way, when you receive the host, you receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. Likewise with the cup.
So not only is the Church’s accommodation of low gluten hosts (in your own post, containing 300 times less gluten than gluten FREE bread) accessible, but it is also fine to just receive from the cup, and receive no less of the Eucharist by doing so.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for writing this article.
Thank you for reminding the church that it’s purpose is to draw others to Christ.
When my son was born, he was not growing or developing properly until we took him off of wheat and dairy then over night he grew several inches and gained several pounds.
But it’s taken him years to recover from the side effects of wheat.
Slowly God has been healing him of his developmental delays, behavorial issues, anemia and other dietary deficiencies. Gluten was utterly destroying my little son’s body, mind and life.
Before God laid it on my heart to try removing gluten and dairy at the same time, his Pediatrician was at a total loss. We were told him might never talk or walk or ever be able to do what ” averages kids do.” He had to repeat kindergarten.
He’s been off gluten since he was 3. Now he’s tall, healthy and very bright. His body is growing strong and healthy. He went from the 4th percentile to the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. He’s also caught back up in school and could now skip a grade or 2. He’s turning 8 soon and I cannot praise God enough for all the healing in my son. But I also praise God for the wisdom to remove gluten and dairy from his diet.
I thank you again for writing this article. Currently my family has been unable to find a church that can/will accommodate my son. Sadly the body of christ has not stood by my son to witness the miracles in his young life. He was being glutened in kids church because it seems most people can’t imagine a child that can’t eat Goldfish crackers.
After many issues, I finally just sadly had to remove him from church and despite our efforts we have not been able to find a church that really takes the time to understand him or what it means to be so severely intolerant of Gluten. To my son, gluten is literally poison.
I am thankful the church has a low gluten option but I agree with all your article 100 percent.
We are called to rip the roofs off to get others to Jesus. Sadly many churches today need some proverbial tables flipped over.
Have we learned nothing from Christ’s rebukes of the Pharisees?
God made Mana fall from Heaven. God doesn’t need gluten or bread or anything.
Also much of the wheat is a hybrid now days and the Bible forbids this.
I believe it takes a lot for people to understand the seriousness of this issue. The bible made it clear that we are not to stand in the way of a little one coming to Christ. I am praying for the church but even more I am praying for everyone the church has wrongfully chased away.
God bless you and thank you again.
Thank you so much for sharing your son’s story. While we’ve done a good job of bringing awareness in schools, we have so much to do in the church. I hope that someday I can help change that.
I am Catholic (with a recently diagnosed gluten sensitivity), so I can split hairs a bit and shed light on some of this. It is not that wheat is more “pure” than other grains (particularly not in the USA – glyphosate, anyone?), but that the matter matters. Just as you cannot baptize someone with motor oil, for example, and must use water, the church “standardized”, if you will (this became part of the Code of Canon Law), the use of unleavened wheat. This disallows abuses, such as not using say potato chips instead, and is based on the fact that Jesus used bread and wine at the Last Supper. Your point, though, about the receiver being pure hits the nail on the head – that is largely forgotten and not a point that many Catholics are well educated on. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law for a deeper dive into the the greatest gift on the planet, the Holy Eucharist.
I am thinking of converting to Catholicism, coming from a non-denominational Christian church. As a celiac, this stance on communion wafers containing gluten discourages me. It is yet another factor to consider in this important decision.
Dear Full Of Hope, it’s definitely something to consider. My husband and I attend a Methodist church that allows gluten free communion. (In fact, I make the gluten free bread for communion, every month.) My husband often jokes that Methodist is “Catholic Lite.” It has a hierarchical structure, but not one head leader. We say the Lords’ Prayer every Sunday, and sing the doxology every week. Different from the Catholic church is that we welcome women pastors. Ours is fantastic.
I’m a Catholic with celiac disease. At Mass we consume the Bread of Life – Jesus Christ himself in the form of bread. Jesus comes to bring us life and health, but a wheat-based communion wafer has the opposite effect on people like me, even after consecration. Therefore it is, to say the least, irreverent to consume it. As Jesus himself told us “Do not fear what can kill the body, fear rather what can kill the soul”.