# So, what SHOULD have Peggy Done with the wafer? (Attn: Catholics) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434 "2002-04-02T19:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/21 "2002-04-08T00:52:01Z")
Oh, tell me about it. I was watching a movie today where Gregory Peck played a priest at the Vatican and dammned if those priestly robes didn’t make him even sexier. I’m so going to hell. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/22 "2002-04-08T00:59:35Z")
Sorry about the continued hijack… _You’re_ going to hell? Let me tell you, I’m so much more involved in the parish than I was before. I go to Bible study. Why did I start going? Because he’s there. I’m working through it though. Seriously. Because this cannot continue. It’s embarrassing - I think he knows that half the women in the parish have crushes and he just ignores it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/23 "2002-04-08T01:41:59Z")
My guess is that partly it’s because priests are, of course, the ultimate, “unattainable guy.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiratu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@Spiratu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiratu)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/24 "2002-04-08T02:15:03Z")
So, **Guin** , **Lsura** , I think I might have a vocation, but I’m _just not sure_. Care to help me decide? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/25 "2002-04-08T02:19:00Z")
nice to see the idea of ‘forbidden fruit’ is alive and well 🙂 \*\*Spiratu - \*\* down, boy, DOWN! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/26 "2002-04-08T20:38:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PunditLisa \* > \*\*Back in my youth Eucharist was treated as an uber-holy thing and no one aside from the priest or deacon could dispense communion. And it was placed directly from the priest’s washed hand (with holy water) to your tongue. Your hands were considered unclean. > > A dropped wafer resulted in several moments of panic. > \*\* I can vouch for that. I recall the moment of _absolute horror_ I felt when as a kid in the late 50s, after receiving communion and returning to my pew with the wafer in my mouth, I sneezed and spewed wet fragments of the host all over my hands! :eek: Fortunately no one else saw what happened. So I just licked all the bits off my hands as quickly as I could. But the thought what would have happenend if Sister Mary Aggravation had caught me doing that still gives me chills. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/27 "2002-04-08T21:23:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Deconsecrates itself before hitting the floor? How \convenient\… Well, to quote a priest of my acquaintance… “If the Jesus who was the active agent in Creation, who rose from the dead, can somehow get himself inside that wafer – he can darn well get back out!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/28 "2002-04-08T23:10:58Z")
Just flashed on an image of a tiny little Jesus with a minature parachute, bailing out of a wafer just before it hits… at least I’m enjoying the ride… ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/29 "2002-04-09T15:40:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spiratu \* > \*\*First off, I know a girl who’s an Eucharistic minister. She said the proper thing to do is pick it up and eat it. You can’t leave Jesus on the floor and have someone step on Him, after all. > \*\* as opposed to being digested in someones smelly gastric juices and excreted. hmmm ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/30 "2002-04-09T17:52:10Z")
I was amazed to learn on one of my mailing lists that bags of “Broken Hosts” (factory seconds, I guess) are sold in some cities nd are a popular snack food. Anybody ever come across these? I dunno. I was raised Lutheran, and our Communion wafers tasted slightly better than toilet paper, with a little more crispness. Do the Catholic ones come in Ranch flavor? (yeah, I’m going straight to hell for that one) Scarlett, remembering Frank McCourt’s torture at the hands of his grandmother on his First Communion day ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/31 "2002-04-09T20:57:39Z")
Or else they could go towards _oplatki_-a Slavic custom of taking unconsecrated hosts and blessing them with holy water. They are then given to parishenors to take as they say grace during Holiday meals. ---
**Author:** ![Jimbrowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@Jimbrowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimbrowski)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/32 "2002-04-09T21:12:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > **…our Communion wafers tasted slightly better than toilet paper, with a little more crispness. Do the Catholic ones come in Ranch flavor?** Yes, but it’s a sin if you actually enjoy it. All the wafers I’ve ever tasted, or eaten by the handful after mass (the unblessed ones, like a snack) taste about as you describe **Scarlett**. However, once on a camping trip with the family… in a roadside campground somewhere in the plains states… we attended mass in the back of a small country store. I’m pretty sure the priest was real and the mass was just the same, but he used chocolate chip cookies instead of wafers. Really. I ate the Body of Christ and He was just bursting with chocolately goodness. The priest explained that “these’re all I have”, but argued a good case that the item itself was of negligible importance - it was the symbolism and faith that were significant. (He also opined that God would be happy we were having mass in the first place, and probably wouldn’t nit-pick on the cookies.) I don’t remember what he used for the wine. I’d giggle myself silly if it was beer or something, but I don’t recall. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/33 "2002-04-09T23:45:46Z")
**Jimbrowski** , assuming you’re talking about a Roman Catholic Mass, chocolate chip cookies don’t cut it. Post-Vatican II there was a good deal of experimentation, but the Church’s teaching has always been that the only licit and valid matter is bread made of wheat and water, and the fermented juice of ripe grapes for the wine. In the Latin Rite, the bread is unleavened, while in the Eastern Rites it is usually leavened. I don’t know if this is a real memory or not, but I do believe I remember a priest in college using taco shells when he ran out of hosts. Not a valid Mass, but tasty! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/34 "2002-04-09T23:49:50Z")
On a slightly more serious note than chocolate chip cookies (I’ll leave it to the theologians to decide the validity of that one), not all congregations use the flavorless styrofoam wafers, either. I’ve been to several Catholic churches where it’s ordinary leavened wheat bread, as a matter of course. Of course, you want to bake it such that it doesn’t produce a bunch of crumbs, because you can’t just leave a pile of Crumbs of Jesus on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/35 "2002-04-10T00:19:30Z")
Wasn’t there a big uproar a few years ago, when a girl who was severely allergic to wheat was unable to get her Parish to substitute a gluten wafer? ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/36 "2002-04-10T20:49:45Z")
**Guin** , is [this](http://www.s-t.com/daily/02-01/02-01-01/a03lo012.htm) what you’re talking about? It looks like this family may have had other issues with the Church, as a reduced-gluten wafer or reception of the cup only are fully acceptable, and they chose to leave the RC Church instead. The Church’s position is that a reduced-gluten wafer is okay, but one without any gluten would no longer be wheat bread, and so would not be valid matter. ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/37 "2002-04-10T23:22:53Z")
As I recall, there were some guidelines I remember hearing about regarding the dropping of the Host. What would happen is that the priest, Eucharistic minister, or alter person would drop down and eat it. Then the section of the carpet upon which the host fell would be cut out of the floor and burned, to prevent people from stepping on any of the crumbs that migh have fallen off upon impact. I believe only step two is in effect for the wine. A tad odd, yes, but I can see the reasonig. Can’t have people stepping on Jesus all day, you know. Cervantes ;j * * * Do you like Piña Coladas? And gettin’ caught in the rain… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/38 "2002-04-10T23:56:41Z")
From [The Catholic Encyclopedia](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07489d.htm) > [@](#): > > The valid material of the Eucharistic host is unadulterated wheat reduced to flour, diluted with natural water, and baked with fire. Some theologians have discussed the use of various flours, but if we except Paludanus, who considers as valid bread made with starch, and Cajetan, who allows bread made with any kind of grain and diluted with milk, we may say that theologians agree upon the rejection of buckwheat, barley, oats, etc. Actually, I was surprised by this, since I recall being told in class about priests in prison camps using exotic materials for communion; for example, instead of wine, squeezing the juice from a raisin. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/39 "2002-04-11T01:42:56Z")
Communion is somehow _invalid_ if the Host is anything but wheat + water + fire? Does a service in which the prescribed materials are unobtainable somehow ‘not count’? Which is more important: the faith (and/or display of faith) or the materials consumed? Puzzled again… hijack alert: I saw an item about a Mass service for a suicide victim. Weren’t suicides ‘unclean’ or ‘excommunicate’ (OK, I’m taking this from Shakespeare (I think), not Doctrine)? and yes, I know that Communion is central to the faith, and am treating it with respect. thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Bean\_Counter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434/40 "2002-04-11T05:55:25Z")
I hope not! I work with a Catholic weekend retreat program for young adults (grades 9 & 10). The weekend closes with a mass in which the retreat participants make the unleaven bread that is consecrated during the mass for communion. The last weekend I help out with they used an electric oven! Not much fire there and I believe it was quite a valid Eucharist. I wager any “rules” for the materials for the bread and wine are for “ideal” conditions. Ideal meaning that those ingredients are available. I cannot fathom anyone condemning the priest from Colibri’s example for not using the correct materials. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-have-peggy-done-with-the-wafer-attn-catholics/101434.md?page=3)