Posted on 08/25/2008 10:48:45 AM PDT by NYer
Imagine the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus, with some genes derived from bacteria that repel certain common pests? No? You obviously are not alone.
Fr Sean McDonagh says that if gluten-free hosts are verboten, then you can count on genetically modified wheat being off limits as well.
Genetically-modified (GM) wheat may not be be suitable under canon law to be used to make hosts for the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist, it's been claimed.This raises the interesting question of what traits would we genetically engineer into the hosts if we could and why? What is Jesus lacking? Do His genes need a little splicing so that he can keep up with the Jamaican track team? Of course not. So why would this even be a question? I can't answer that but I am quite sure that in the future, some turgid twerp will be screaming for this very thing in order that we can be inclusive to some previously unidentified subset of a subset who has been excluded (aka - made to feel bad about themselves) for thousands of years even though no one ever noticed before. (Should I be confessing cynicism?)
Fr Sean McDonagh, a Columban priest and well-known commentator on environmental issues, questions whether the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith which oversees Catholic doctrine could ever sanction GM wheat. Writing in Intercom, a publication of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, Fr McDonagh cites the example that gluten-free hosts are outlawed for use in communion -- even though it can endanger the health of those suffering from coeliac disease, which is a bowel disorder. Low gluten hosts are permitted.
"Crops which have been genetically engineered to date include maize, soya beans, canola (derived from rapeseed) and potatoes. Many biotech companies would like to genetically engineer wheat. If this is pushed through, the question will arise as to whether GM wheat can be used in the Eucharist?"
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Ping!
Wow, I just have to say, good grief!
I can’t imagine what could possibly be wrong with genetically modified wheat. The fact that it’s a domesticate means it’s already been genetically modified.
If botanists say that something isn't wheat, then its use should be examined.
If botanists say it's wheat, it's probably OK.
Not RC, but given that the whole thing is a re-creation of a Passover meal (although certainly with all that comes with the New Covenent/Communion), I would think any bread without yeast would be perfectly acceptable to God.
Matzos being the easiest choice . . . but I am a practical guy.
Precisely. There's no way the wheat of today is genetically the same as the wheat circa AD 32.
“Do this” He said. Not “Do something similar sorta kinda.”
just another environmentalist wacko trying to put his two cents in....
The bread is bread. If they genetically modified the wheat so that insecticide wasn’t needed, or to increase the vitamin content, so what? it’s still wheat and it’s still bread.
Gluten free means it’s not bread (gluten glues the dough together...no gluten, it’s not bread...)
GM is mostly a new version of old fashioned hybrid crops.
Water and wheat = water and wheat.
Kosher-for-Passover matzas are additionally baked under some special rules -- if the dough sits around too long, it's considered "chometz" or leavened, and not kosher anymore.
Communion hosts are prepared from a thinner batter, not a true dough, and are cooked in a press-like device, which is why their appearance is a little different.
A kosher-for-Passover matza would be valid matter for communion, although the mass-produced ones would result in too many crumbs. (Handmade ones aren't crumbly, from what I've read.)
Kosher-for-Passover matzas are additionally baked under some special rules -- if the dough sits around too long, it's considered "chometz" or leavened, and not kosher anymore.
Communion hosts are prepared from a thinner batter, not a true dough, and are cooked in a press-like device, which is why their appearance is a little different.
A kosher-for-Passover matza would be valid matter for communion, although the mass-produced ones would result in too many crumbs. (Handmade ones aren't crumbly, from what I've read.)
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