Bishop Denies Request for Non-Wheat Communion Wafer
A New Jersey woman whose 9-year-old daughter is allergic to wheat, which is used in Communion wafers, has failed to persuade her Roman Catholic bishop to let the girl use a non-wheat substitute for the church sacrament. In an hourlong meeting with the bishop at the diocese headquarters on May 17, the bishop told Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman that because of Vatican rules his decision from last summer to not allow the rice substitute would stand. Pelly-Waldman’s daughter Haley suffers from celiac-sprue disease, which prevents her from digesting any gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, but not in rice. Gluten consumed by celiac sufferers can damage the lining of the small intestine.
My wife and I have a child who is allergic to wheat, so we know exactly how dangerous it can be. It’s absurd for the Vatican to stand fast on rules like this. What harm would there be in offering a substitute wafer to parishioners who simply cannot digest the substance?
How pathetic.
I too am a former Roman Catholic.
If the bishop let the girl take non-wheat Communion, he would be contradicting the RC doctrine of Transsubstantiation, which teaches that the Consecrated Host is no longer bread but literally and physically the Body of Jesus Christ!
In contrast, a cornerstone of most Protestant faiths is that Communion is spiritually & symbolically the Body of Christ as it binds the Faithful into the Body of Christ.
465 reasons not to be Catholic, well I am not going to try and convenice you that you should be…BUT…the Sacred Body and Blood comes in two forms, Bread AND wine. A drop of the wine is the same as the host, you do not have to consume both. The cornerstone of most Protestant faiths is the Bible whereas the Catholic Church is Christ centered. Protestants even with their love of the Bible seem to gloss over John Chapter Six which speaks about the Eucharist. God bless you and keep you no matter what faith you have