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8-year-old's first Holy Communion invalidated by Church
Newsday ^ | August 12, 2004 | John Curran

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 ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Worship
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholiclist; celiacsprue; eucharist; holycommunion; look4arealchurch; ratzinger
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To: Canticle_of_Deborah

ROTFL... ; )


41 posted on 08/12/2004 11:15:25 AM PDT by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you don't have to" ;)
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To: Mercat
I feel for this family but I don't understand why the child doesn't just take a sip of wine. It's like this huge victim thing.

Exactly right. To receive the Blessed sacrament in either species is to recieve Him fully; body, blood, soul and divinity. It's not that the Church invalidated her "sacrament", it's that her sacrament was invalid in the first place by its very lack of necessary nature.
42 posted on 08/12/2004 11:17:02 AM PDT by broadsword (Liberalism is the societal AIDS virus that thwarts national defense.)
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To: Pyro7480

bread, plain old bread...and it does not matter what its made from... ..it is in REMEMBRANCE of Christ.
She had a wafer made without the wheat...so what. Splitting hairs is not what Jesus is about, and WHERE in Lords'supper do you see a recipe for the flour??? IF he wanted a special bread he would have given the recipe where the Lord's Supper is spoken about....this is nonsense, Perid.
Show me where Jesus gave out the ingredients for bread of the Last Supper. It does not have anything to do with Ezekials bread cause that was for a different purpose in OLD Testament.


43 posted on 08/12/2004 11:17:56 AM PDT by Kackikat (,Kerry=the counterfeit, GWBush is the real deal!)
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To: AgThorn
rather you should ask "Is the church dogma so ridiculous that they really have to ask such a question? i.e. where in the bible is 'wheat' the only way to receive communion?"

The child suffers from a rare and unusual disorder which prevents her from participating in customary Church traditions. There is no doubt that the Church will find a way to accommodate the child once the slow wheels of Church bureaucracy become better informed as to the nature of her disability. Until that happens, there will also be plenty of opportunity for anti-Catholic bigots to denounce and belittle the Church.

44 posted on 08/12/2004 11:19:00 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Alan Go!!!)
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To: Pyro7480

On a more positive note Communion is NOT required to be saved. It is highly recommended IF the person is able but will NOT exclude the person from being saved.

The situation with this 8 year old is a simple example of rituals taken to an extreme and forgetting what the Bible teaches. Communion is NOT required to be saved or have a personal relationship with Christ. If you diagree with me, then argue with Christ about why the thief on the cross was saved. Christ could see his heart and told him he would be with Him in paradise. This thief had NO time for rituals yet he was saved. There are other examples in the Bible as well but this is one that is better known.


45 posted on 08/12/2004 11:20:42 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: Kackikat
.it is in REMEMBRANCE of Christ.

Thanks for getting to the bottom of the Catholic/"Reformist" argument over the Eucharist. To Catholics, it's not only a remembrance. It is also the same eternal Sacrifice of Calvary, but through unbloody means. I think the "Reformists" can agree that the consequences of Christ's Sacrifice are eternal.

46 posted on 08/12/2004 11:20:43 AM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix.... sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper...)
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To: AgThorn

Jesus used unleaved wheat bread. He didn't use cake. He didn't use barley. He didn't use peanut butter. He didn't use fried chicken. Your quarrel is with Jesus, not the Church.


47 posted on 08/12/2004 11:23:55 AM PDT by ultima ratio
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To: nmh
Communion is NOT required to be saved or have a personal relationship with Christ. If you diagree with me, then argue with Christ about why the thief on the cross was saved. Christ could see his heart and told him he would be with Him in paradise. This thief had NO time for rituals yet he was saved. There are other examples in the Bible as well but this is one that is better known.

You're speaking of baptism of desire. However, it is quite apparent that this is an emergency situation. I would consider the digestive disorder situation to be regretful situation, not an emergency situation. Their salvation isn't in jeopardy because of it, as long as they are free of mortal sin. However, normatively speaking, Christ desires that we are baptized in the way He instituted, and that we receive Him in the way He instituted.

Communion is NOT required to be saved or have a personal relationship with Christ.

Then how do you explain Christ's words that I quoted from before?

48 posted on 08/12/2004 11:24:17 AM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix.... sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper...)
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To: Dominick
we get no validation of First Communion from the Diocese.

I don't know about every diocese, but I can tell you that when my son married about 10 years ago (in Philadelphia), there was an issue of whether or not he had received his First Communion. We'd had it recorded in our family bible so we even knew the date. He'd made his first communion in Metuchen, but the parish of his baptism never recorded it. I'm not sure what happened, but there was some issue of paperwork that involved two different parishes - St. Francis in Metuchen and St. John Baptist in Philadelphia. Eventually, his pastor stepped in for him and the issue was resolved. I'm not sure how, but I do know he would have had problems marrying in the Church without some sort of certification.

49 posted on 08/12/2004 11:24:56 AM PDT by old and tired
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To: sinkspur
The Church could also make an exception, since the matter for the Eucharist is Church law.

Right...as opposed to say, varying methods of infanticide and it's offspring, which is clearly Gods, law.

And we know how solemnly those duties are being taken.

50 posted on 08/12/2004 11:25:01 AM PDT by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you don't have to" ;)
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To: Blzbba
I don't get it. Thru TransSubstantiation, the priest changes the wafer & wine into the actual body & blood of Christ, according to Church teachings.

The actual body and blood of Christ didn't contain wheat then. Why should it now?

Transubstantiation means that the substance of the bread and wine are changed in the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the accidents remain.

The accidents are the actual appearance of the thing, while the substance are what the thing is. So after transubstantiation, it still, looks, feels, tastes, and acts just like bread and wine, even though we believe what it is has become Christ.

We don't believe the bread and wine are an illusion - a trick of our minds or some other monstrous belief; but rather that the whole Christ is a new reality underneath the appearances of bread and wine.

So if you are allergic to wheat or alcohol, you will have still have a difficult time receiving Holy Communion. You receive the reality of Christ, but the physicality of the bread and wine.

The presence of Christ is the spiritual reality. The appearance of bread is the physical reality.

We believe Christ is physically present, but He is not physically apparent. You still see bread and wine, and it still tastes like bread and wine. It is in fact still bread and wine by all outward appearances.

I hope this aides your understanding of what we believe.

51 posted on 08/12/2004 11:25:43 AM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: Blzbba

You're right--you don't get it. All matter is comprised of substance and accident. The concept of Transubstantiation means that the accidents of wheat--color, taste, shape, etc., remain the same, but the substance--the essence of wheatness--is changed into the Body of Jesus. "Wheatness" per se no longer exists after the Consecration.


52 posted on 08/12/2004 11:28:21 AM PDT by ultima ratio
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To: Blzbba
As if God cares about wheatless wafers. Sheesh!

Do you think God would mind celebrating Holy Communion with doritos tortilla chips, chocolate chip cookies, pizza, crabcakes, deep fried chicken, or a pastrami on rye? They all have grain don't they?

If not, where exactly is the line drawn between wheaten bread and all other foods as to what is and is not acceptable for use at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and why?

53 posted on 08/12/2004 11:28:42 AM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: Pyro7480
Stupid you say? What did Christ Himself use?

My Bible says He used King Arthur® Unbleached Bread Flour. Not a trace of rye or oats, or anything non-wheat.

54 posted on 08/12/2004 11:28:42 AM PDT by js1138 (In a minute there is time, for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. J Forbes Kerry)
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To: nmh
On a more positive note Communion is NOT required to be saved.

"Uhless you eat my body and drink my blood you will have no life in you." --Jesus

The situation with this 8 year old is a simple example of rituals taken to an extreme and forgetting what the Bible teaches.

The Catholic Church wrote, defined and owns the (NT) Bible. Without Pope St. Damasus, who reigned in the 300s, you do-it-yourself, anything-goes-according-to-my-on-the-spot personal-interpretation-of-what-I-don't-understand, I am my own god types would have no Bible to misinterpret.
55 posted on 08/12/2004 11:30:13 AM PDT by broadsword (Liberalism is the societal AIDS virus that thwarts national defense.)
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To: Pyro7480

Maybe I wasn't clear. The thief on the cross was NOT baptized nor did he take communion yet Christ said, you will be with me in paradise. If the words of Christ are not suffient for you, I don't know what to tell you.

Rituals do NOT save anyone. It is you HEART that He evaluates. Rituals are nice but they do NOT save anyone. This thread is an example of a ritual, communion, taken to an extreme and is not the teachings of Christ of the Bible.


56 posted on 08/12/2004 11:30:26 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: sinkspur

Can't she recieve the Precious Blood instead? I don't see what the problem is.


57 posted on 08/12/2004 11:30:27 AM PDT by B Knotts
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To: nmh

The Divine Commission had not yet been given to the Apostles at the time of St. Dismas' death (St. Matthew xxviii.18-20, St. Mark xvi.15-16). Would you like to contend that Christ did not say the following?

"Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you" (St. John vi.54).


58 posted on 08/12/2004 11:30:28 AM PDT by Fifthmark
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To: js1138

LOL. That's funny. This is actually a long-standing argument in Christian circles, as the Church spread to areas where wheat isn't the staple grain.


59 posted on 08/12/2004 11:30:50 AM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix.... sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper...)
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To: hobbes1
Right...as opposed to say, varying methods of infanticide and it's offspring, which is clearly Gods, law.
And we know how solemnly those duties are being taken.

Actually, they're taken very seriously in the Catholic Church, hobbes.

What the hell's the matter with you?

60 posted on 08/12/2004 11:30:56 AM PDT by sinkspur ("Who is the father of the Sons of Zebedee"?--Cardinal Fanfani)
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