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 ...
Agreed
"The Diocese of Trenton has told Waldman's mother that the girl can receive a low-gluten host, drink wine at communion or abstain entirely, but that any host without gluten does not qualify as Holy Communion.
While I understand the theology, I'm not well acquainted with this ritual. But it seems clear from the article that what she participates in does NOT qualify as Holy Communion. This is not coming from someone who isn't in the know. This is coming from a Diocese.
Joh 6:53-54 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
According to Catholic interpretation, I guess this little girl is just out of luck. I wonder how other Catholics would feel if they had an eight year old daughter with this condition?
The girl can participate with her friends and classmates. The only difference is when it comes time she would receive the wine only while her classmates receive the consecrated Host.
This is not as big a deal as the mother is making it out to be. All she had to do was discuss it with the priest beforehand and arrangements would have been made.
OTOH, if the mother were more rational and mature (she's only 30, for heaven's sake) she would accept the consecrated wine for her daughter.
.. confusing church that makes rules, selectively enforces, selectively enforces many of the wrong ones (no wheat, no communion little girl), etc.
But then again, you are correct, why should I care since it's your church.
"Jesus did not say our unleavened bread had to be made from wheat"
He didn't need to! Unleavened bread, in the biblical understanding of the term, IS made of wheat.
It's the IS that is the issue.
I don't know how powerful you think we think the Pope is - but he is really not as powerful as you seem to think he is.
He can't change the IS of anything so that at one moment it IS one thing and the next it IS something else, apart from his participation in the Eucharist when, acting in the person of Christ, the IS of the bread and the IS of the wine is changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Even then, it is not the Pope or the priest who changes the IS, but it is Christ and His power acting in them.
The Pope is certainly not able to change the IS of rice cakes to make them into the IS of bread. Or the IS of grape juice into the IS of wine.
He has no power to change the IS of a falsehood into the IS of a truth. He is just as bound by the natural law as we all are.
You seem to ascribe much greater powers to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church than any Catholic believes in!!!
"There are still pieces missing from this story. Maybe momma's working a power play against the Church."
Yes, I think you are correct.
You may wish to read the article again. It says the girl cannot take wheat even in a low glutoness format. The standards you've posted says that there must be at least some amount of wheat content. What you posted confirms what the article is saying.
HoW? The Church is custodian of the faith. It has no authority to change the matter used to confect the Eucharist.
The RCC is Christ's church. The only one He founded. If you disagree with Her teachings on faith and morals, then you disagree with Christ.
WWJD is a bad way to lead a Christian life. Like protestantism, it leads to moral relativism. We know what Jesus asks of us. He founded one church with a living authority that will last to the end of human history. The Catholic Church speaks as Christ on faith and morals. Jesus would do as we should do...obey.
Glad I switched over to something more sane... Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo.
I find the Catholics on this board extremely insensitive to this little girl's condition and quite frankly its appalling. I wonder how many of you if you had a little girl in this same condition would say, "Sorry dear, but you can't partake." as you eat your wafer and took a sip of wine? Instead of focusing on this problem you try to blame the mother who is only trying to help raise her daughter in the faith. If this isn't a reminder of the Pharisees living by the law I don't know what is. You should all be ashamed.
Teff in Ethiopia has been the dominant grain used for making bread and would be understood in Amharic in the way "wheat" is used in English although Teff is not wheat precisely. Those who suffer from celiac sprue disease in many cases do not have any reaction to Teff (or amaranth), and it would be worth exploring with the appropriate dicastery the use of a Teff based Communion host by bringing together secular scientific competence with ecclesiastical liturgical historians as well as others. Such a decision requires more minds, with greater expertise and broader vision. If Teff is not suitable, then there is amaranth, and certainly there are questions about the use of common spelt and the relatively recently discoverd Etruscan spelta for Communion hosts that should be made clear as well.
If an answer cannot be worked out within the Latin rite -- and that would not be surprising to some -- then perhaps the Ethiopian Catholics or one of the other Eastern Catholic Churches might have an answer for a child suffering from this terrible disease.
I would think this is worth exploring bearing in mind the tremendous responsibility to Our Lord and to the souls for whom He died.
FReegards,
David
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