“So…that means that if he walks on water… he’s made of wheat?”
“And therefore?”
“JESUS!”
First off, wheat is not the problem, per se. Gluten (that until recently was always present in wheat) is the problem. Gluten can trigger violent reactions in people suffering from Celiac-Sprue disease. This was probably never a problem until recently, because people who could not eat (gluten-laced) wheat probably just died long before they received their First Communion. (First Communion did not take place until the early teens prior to the 20th century and victims of Celiac-Sprue, like victims of childhood onset diabetes, probably did not live long enough to have a problem.) So we are pitting a recently understood phenomenon against a very old tradition.
In the 20th century, medical science identified Celiac-Sprue disease and its relationship to gluten. Since that time, a number of people have been working to develop gluten-free wheat flour and recently they have been successful. The are now sources of gluten-free communion wafers (a point of which the idiot priest should have been aware).
Now, the bureaucrats in the church are quite capable of being as stupid as bureaucrats anywhere else (and as of uninformed priests). There was a recent dust-up because a family wanted to let their child receive communion only from the cup (which should be acceptable), but further asked that the cup be made available to the child at the beginning of the distribution of Communion so that the child would not accidentally swallow a piece of the host that might have fallen into the cup. In that case, some officious pastor or bureaucrat declared that it was not possible to “disrupt” the service by allowing the child to go first
Jerks!
As far as I know, declaring a first communion “invalid” does nothing other than forcing the parish to go back to the register and remove the girl’s name from the list of first communicants on that date. However, the parish should have no trouble finding gluten-free hosts or allowing the girl to partake only of the cup and letting her make her First Communion, now.
Next time I’m bringing some A1 Steak sauce up with me.
Reason Number 3,583, 927 why I am no longer Catholic.
Lack of low carb options?
Huh?
tomndebb, I always look forward to your knowledge and opinions wrt the RCC, and I am very rarely (if at all) disappointed in any of your posts. I guess I’m saying that I value your input on the matter, and you can convey much more easily on the subject at hand than I could ever dream of putting to words.
Now, don’t let your head get too big. 
Larry Mudd, see above…
This story gives more details. The church offered to use low-gluten hosts, but since there is still a very small amount of gluten present she refused. Fair enough. They also offered to give her daughter her first communion with a sip of low-alcohol wine, but she refused that as well:
Seems to me that a reasonable accomodation was offered, but instead the mother decided to make a stand.
Jack Chick saysyou’re going to hell for taking communion anyway.* Which makes me wonder about the immortal souls of people who are allergic to rattlesnake venom. Would a Tennessee Pentecostal church let you play with a garter snake instead?
*Drastic oversimplification.
Good. Should be the first step for this kid realizing that religion is an empty, totalitarian farce that uses ritual and dogma to distract people as it enslaves them.
There’s wheat in the wafer?! I always thought it was made of toilet paper, at least that’s it tastes like.
I have no problem with most religious rituals (if nobody is harming anyone), if you don’t agree with it is obvious that you should just get out. If it sounds too simplistic to you it is because I think it is that simple.
Maybe we should create our own religion… and have virgin sacrifices (but we really don’t kill them, PETA wouldn’t like that). 
Well, at least she doesn’t seem to be hostile about it, but apparently just concinved that all the accommodation must happen in one direction (and BTW, shame on the article for turning “principle” into “principal”). Folks, it’s not a democracy, it’s not supposed to be one. The wheels of change grind very slowly, she may have to wait until she’s 21 and can make her own mom-independent desision as to whether any trace of alcohol touches her lips. Let’s just hope she doesn’t have to.
[QUOTE=Mighty_Girl]
Y’mean we only sacrifice the virginity? I am SO there…
Well, I’ve made a great discovery today: Jesus does *not * taste like chicken.
I wonder what the official church line would be on someone with multiple food issues: celiac disease and an allergy to grapes?
You know, this is something my father-a Roman Catholic-swears by. He’s typically, or rather occasionally a skeptical person, on most matters except this one.
Personally, it’s always baffled me. I mean, if this were true, then for 2,000 years a lot of people have been eat’n and drink’n Christ, right?
Well, the obvious question is exactly how BIG was Christ? Did he have a weight problem?
Some one mentioned a low calorie Christ… which has got me wondering…Does the lower calorie Christ taste the same as the full calorie Christ? I’m sure it tastes great, but is it truly less filling?
I’ve got to ask my neighbor for her take on this. She’s allergic to wheat and never eats it. I believe the term she uses is ‘celiac’. She has also been a nun for a good 40 or 50 years. I’m curious as to how she handles Communion and will let you know what I find out.
Yeah, this bit of info takes away pretty much all of my sympathy for the mother (but not the child). What is it with parents today, who expect the entire world to just step the fuck aside and make any and all accomodations for their children?
The Bible? Lots and lots of things churches do are NOT in the Bible.
I noticed this growing up as a Catholic. 
According to the above posts, he tastes like paper. That’s one strange Messiah.
I always wondered about how an alcoholic could be Catholic. I guess the Jewish faith handles it better: If any law is determined to be dangerous to a human life, no matter how slight the danger is, the law can be disobeyed. That would certainly apply here.
The bread turns into the actual body of Christ, and thus is wheat-free? Can someone explain to me how this transformation takes place?