[Magdalen] Jesus can only reveal hinself in wheat.... ???

[Scott Knitter]

I think they're just reminding their priests of the existing rules about
proper matter for the Sacrament. But they've done so in a way that has
blown up into major headlines, so it now looks like a giant whirlwind about
minutiae.

The useful part of the current discussion on this is what indeed those with
celiac disease and other gluten- or wheat-related ailments are supposed to
do when it comes to receiving Holy Communion.

I presume the rule about gluten (that there needs to be some) is part of
making sure bread is used and not a rice cake or something else.

On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 11:15 AM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I shake my head in bewilderment.... of all of the things that Jesus *is*,
> the earthly powers that be have decided that HE can not define Himself
> through anything other than wheat. WWQE1S? (what would Queen Elizabeth 1
> say?)  A clergy friend often said that Japan would have become Christian a
> millennia ago if the host could have been made of rice.
> The various quotes holding up this polity are telling.  Again the 'mother
> church' plays their hand of power and might. And.... where are the
> videotapes on that last supper 2017 years ago anyway??? Perhaps the real
> question is - does the RC church actually have the correct recipe, much
> less the correct ingredients? Rant mode off.
> Lynn
>
> Washington Post: Religion Headlines that Matter
>
> Acts of Faith
> The Catholic Church says no to gluten-free communion. Here's why.
>
> The Vatican has issued guidelines over the type of bread and wafers to use
> during communion in Catholic churches at the request of the pope, since
> these items are widely for sale, including online. (Domenico Stinellis/AP)
> A new Vatican letter to Catholic bishops worldwide has stirred up
> questions again over what kinds of bread and wafers should be used during
> communion in Catholic churches around the world. The letter sparked
> concerns for those who avoid eating gluten, including people who have
> celiac disease.
> The letter drew attention from media outlets around the globe, but it
> actually reaffirmed earlier guidelines saying that bread and wafers must
> have at least some gluten in them. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
> already has guidelines allowing churches to use low-gluten wafers and
> nothing will change in American Catholic churches, said Andrew Menke,
> executive director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship.
> "Absolutely nothing has changed," Menke said in a statement. "The 'new
> guidance' from the Vatican is simply a reminder to bishops that they need
> to be attentive to the bread and wine that is used for Mass, making sure
> that it's consistent with the Church's requirements."
> The guidelines were issued in June but began to cause a stir after they
> were published Saturday by Vatican Radio. They were issued at the request
> of Pope Francis, according to Cardinal Robert Sarah, since bread and wine
> are widely available for sale, "even over the Internet."
> The Catholic Church holds communion, also called the Eucharist, at every
> mass as a recognition of Jesus' Last Supper. Catholics receive bread and
> wine, believing that they are receiving the literal body and blood of
> Christ.
> People with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder where gluten can lead
> to damage in the small intestine, avoid foods with the protein found in
> grains like wheat, rye and barley. But researchers say gluten-free diets
> have been on the rise in the United States even among those who don't have
> a gluten sensitivity, and many Protestant churches across the country have
> begun to offer gluten-free communion in recent years.
> Because the Catholic Church is global, it has long wrestled with how to
> remain unified while accommodating churches in different regions in the
> world to adapt its practices to cultural norms. Some Catholics have
> discussed whether the church should consider whether the bread could be
> made of something else, like rice, or whether the wine could be made from
> the sap of palm trees.
> The Catholic Church teaches that the practice of the Eucharist should be
> in continuity with Jesus, who ate wheat bread and drank grape wine,
> describing them as his body and blood.
> "Christ did not institute the Eucharist as rice and sake, or sweet
> potatoes and stout," said Chad Pecknold, a theology professor at Catholic
> University.
> Some theologians have argued the bread and wine are simply symbolic, but
> the Catholic Church does not consider the elements to be symbols. It
> teaches that Jesus himself instituted the bread and the wine during the
> Passover meal, and churches should follow his lead.
> "It may seem a small thing to people," Pecknold said. "But the Catholic
> Church has spent 2,000 years working out how to be faithful to Christ even
> in the smallest things. To be vitally and vigorously faithful . is
> something which is simply integral to what it means to be Catholic."
> Bread and wafers "must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made
> so that there is no danger of decomposition," the letter from the Vatican
> states. "Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the
> celebration of the Eucharist." However, low-gluten wafers and bread may be
> used, it says.
> The wine, the letter says, must be "natural, from the fruit of the grape,
> pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances." Both bread and wine
> made from genetically-modified organisms are acceptable.
> Rachel Rieger, who was diagnosed with celiac disease at 12 years old, said
> she was worried whether the guidelines would change something for her. She
> said even one wafer would make her feel sick for the next 24 to 48 hours,
> and her parish in Ohio began to provide her with low-gluten wafers.
> Rieger, a 25-year-who works in digital marketing, said the guidelines seem
> so specific for a global church that should be universal.
> "It's almost splitting hairs," she said, wondering why the church won't
> allow nonwheat wafers. "There are so many options, and it would reach that
> same end point."
>
>
>


-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA