Posted on 08/12/2004 10:41:10 AM PDT by sidewalk
BRIELLE, N.J. -- An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot consume wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained none, violating Catholic doctrine. Now, Haley Waldman's mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the Vatican to make an exception, saying the girl's condition _ celiac sprue disease _ should not exclude her from participating in the sacrament, in which Roman Catholics eat consecrated wheat-based wafers to commemorate the last supper of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
If the type of bread used doesn't matter, then hell, why can't the priest consecrate a Pepperoni pizza?
"Would you please go away! This is a family matter."
If by 'family', you mean 'Catholic', then I'm probably MORE qualified than you to discuss this, given the FACT that I am a confirmed Catholic (St. Michael) and attended Catholic school - with nuns - for 6 years.
If you're turned off by my 'evil' handle, well - it's just a unique screename.
"As an omnipotent deity, I think it's sacrilege..."
"Ah there you are!!! No wonder you haven't been answering my prayers - you've been too busy posting on Free Republic!"
LOL! My bad - poor usage of the King's English indeed!
"Stupid church dogma rules that have nothing to do with our Savior."
Our Savior is Jesus Christ. We are doing what he commanded.
Who is your Savior?
He is perfectly right, and so is the guy who interprets scripture in total contradiction to him, and that other guy who contradicts them both. They are all right in their interpretation... as long as none of them are Catholic. LOL!
The YOPIOS illogic is staggering.
"How do you know when to interpret it literally and when to interpret figuratively. "
I know this isn't directed to me, but I think yours is a very good question. Your insinuation above that it can't be always interpreted literally is something I totally agree with.
"If the type of bread used doesn't matter, then hell, why can't the priest consecrate a Pepperoni pizza?"
I suddenly have the urge for a GodFather's thin-crust pepperoni. Thanks for picking out my dinner!
Amen!
"On another point, I find that God is alllll about the details. Passover, for example. You had to kill a lamb, an unblemished lamb, then smear the blood over your door, and then you had to EAT the lamb. Do this or die. Did God give the people who didn't kill the right kind of lamb, or didn't get around to smearing the blood, or didn't eat the lamb, a break? Maybe, maybe not. We can HOPE so. We don't KNOW so."
Concerning the OT sacrifices, the were a shadow of the Perfect Sacrifice to come- the OT people were not saved by following their sacrifices to the letter, but by having faith in God- the same way we are saved (Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as rightousness- Romans 4:3). So why did God institute these elaborate sacrifices? Precisely to show that human effort CANNOT save- imagine the devout Jew dutifully performing his sacrifices and ceremonies for every infraction- if he is smart, he will soon realize that he couldn't have possibly accounted for all his transgressions, and couldn't possibly have done the rituals perfectly. In this way, God prepared their hearts for the Perfect Sacrifice- no human rituals or sacrifices needed (or accepted).
"salvation by works."
Salvation by works is one thing. Guilt-tripping people into giving the Church money for forgiveness of sin isn't something sanctioned by God, contrary to what I'm supposed to believe about those oh-so-noble popes of the Middle Ages who endorsed this practice.
Where do you think the money to build all those gorgeous cathedrals across Europe came from?
You call your self a deacon? The pope himself could say all the prayers he wants over a rice wafer but it would still NOT be precious body of Christ. The church has always and universally held for the sacrifice to be valid the bread must be wheat and the wine must be fermented grape juice and both must be present.
You are in error with your belief unless you are talking to another Jehovah Witness, since their bible is a man made variant of the Christian text.
Assuming you are talking to a 'protestant' the new testament is shared with Catholics and the protestant old testament is shared with the Jews.
Not true. Go back up and read Ratzinger's 1994 letter.
Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you don't have to"
You must not know everything because you obviously don't know much about the Catholic (or Orthodox) faith.
Sorry, but as long as many of you "Catholics" (1) post on a public board and (2) seem to find no fault in feeding little alergic girls communion bread that may kill her, sorry friend, but you make this all our business.
When sound rational Catholics speak up and say that there are alternatives for such unique situations, we all gain faith that the most 'legalist' among you (and according to this thread there appear to many) do have some more sane church members that will help keep you less sain members from letting your "religion" kill!
"I wouldn't trust mere fallible mortals with where I will stand in eternity."
Me neither - which is exactly why Catholics will never accept your fallible and mortal interpretation of God's Holy Word.
"Me: The RITUALS Jesus performed or asked other to carry out do NOT save anyone."
Mark 16,16: "Whoever believes AND IS BAPTISED will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned."
John: "If you would love me keep my commandments."
a) Jesus commands the ritual for our salvation.
b) Those who reject it are disobedient to Christ.
c) Those who are unrepentent in their disobedience do not love Christ and will not be saved.
Disobedience is at the heart of man's rebellion against God. Pray for the grace of obedience for yourself and this stroppy mother - if, in fact, she is a real person and not just some figment concocted to fill the gaps in the media's silly season.
By Christopher Gaul
Senior staff correspondent
The University of Maryland researcher whose ground-breaking study revealed that celiac disease is dramatically more prevalent in the United States than previously thought said he is sure a newly developed, low-gluten eucharistic host is safe for the vast majority of sufferers of the little- known digestive disorder.
“This is really wonderful news and is going to make a big difference in the lives of what we now know to be the many people in this country who have celiac,” said Dr. Alessio Fasano, whose 2003 research discovered that more than two million Americans suffer from celiac.
Prior to the publication of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research study, the disease was thought to be rare. But now it is clear that it’s twice as common as Crohn’s ulcerative colitis and cystic fibrosis, said the professor of pediatrics, medicine and physiology who is a parishioner of St. Paul in Ellicott City.
“If there are about 300 people in church for Mass on Sunday, then we now know that two or three of them at least are likely to have celiac,” said Dr. Fasano, who noted that the disease affects about one in 130 Americans.
Celiac disease is a digestive disorder that is triggered by the protein gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and other grains. The Vatican requires that hosts must contain some gluten, an ingredient essential in the making of actual bread, but no one in the U.S. had developed a host with a low enough quantity of gluten that celiac sufferers could tolerate without harm.
That was until last month when, in a monastery in the rolling hills of northwest Missouri, members of the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration produced a wheat host that contained a mere 0.01 percent of gluten, a level low enough to be perfectly safe for celiac sufferers, Dr. Fasano said.
“We had been trying to develop a really, really low-gluten bread for the past 10 or more years,” said Sister Rita Dohn, O.S.B., who heads the Benedictine Sisters’ altar bread department. “After all these years of trial and error we finally did it and we’re so thrilled for people with celiac who can now receive the host.”
Sister Rita said the challenge she and her fellow Sisters faced was trying to keep just enough gluten in the bread to meet the requirements set by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, yet an amount small enough to pose no threat to celiac sufferers, as determined by medical experts.
The level achieved by the Benedictines was even lower than that of a low-gluten host developed in Italy recently and approved by the Vatican and the scientific committee of the Italian Celiac Association.
According to the U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, the Benedictine Sisters’ bread contains unleavened wheat and water, is free of additives and conforms to the requirements of the Code of Canon Law, canon 924.2.
“This low-gluten content is still enough gluten to confect bread for the Eucharist,” the committee determined. “(It) is the only true, low-gluten altar bread known to the Secretariat and approved for use at Mass in the United States.”
However, committee officials cautioned that while gluten-intolerant persons may be able to consume the low-gluten host, or some portion of it, they are “strongly advised” to check with their personal physicians first. Prior to the development of the low-gluten host, U.S. bishops had advised celiac sufferers to receive Communion only in the form of consecrated wine.
The celiac issue was thrown into the public spotlight in the U.S. in 2001 when the parents of a five-year-old Boston girl with celiac disease left the Catholic Church after their pastor would not allow them to substitute the wheat host with a rice wafer for her first Communion.
Until the results of Dr. Fasano’s study were made known last year, doctors rarely diagnosed celiac disease in their patients who suffered from symptoms of gastrointestinal discomfort or distress.
“I look back and I think, how many patients over the years have I missed who had celiac disease whom we said had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)? Hundreds, hundreds,” said Mercy Medical Center’s Dr. Michael Cox, a gerontologist for the past 25 years.
He said that of the patients who now return to him with symptoms of IBS, five to 10 percent are testing positive for celiac.
“I’m diagnosing more and more people with celiac now,” Dr. Cox said. “It’s out there in unprecedented numbers. I’ve diagnosed more patients with celiac in the past year than in all my 25 years of practice.”
Your Saviour did not command you to use 'wheat' for bread and never have a substitute, especially when the life of a child who is allergic to wheat is at hand.
Legalism lives in this thread for certain. What would Jesus do, you need to ask. Obviously, too many are not, hence why the label pharisee fits many in this discussion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.