Church Says Girl's Communion Not Valid

[redqueen]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=10&u=/ap/20040820/ap_on_re_us/communion_denied

BRIELLE, N.J. - An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine.

Now, Haley Waldman's mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the Vatican (news - web sites) to make an exception, saying the girl's condition should not exclude her from the sacrament, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. The mother believes a rice Communion wafer would suffice.

"It's just not a viable option. How does it corrupt the tradition of the Last Supper? It's just rice versus wheat," said Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman.

Church doctrine holds that Communion wafers, like the bread served at the Last Supper, must have at least some unleavened wheat. Church leaders are reluctant to change anything about the sacrament.
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What the Cheney is it with domga? That poor little girl! :grr:

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. i hope the church tightens thier sphinter on this

one less child to be molested by priests

[miss_kitty]

2. so jesus would kick this 2nd grader with celiac sprue to the curb?

reason #2 not to believe in this crap

[slutticus]

3. This is absolutely ridiculous

...If the catholic church really followed their dogma....about 90% of catholics would be ineligible for communion every week.

It's sick how religious dogma can fuck up a nice ritual like the Eucharist. They completely miss the point.

Give me a break.

[cosmicaug]

8. Cannibalism.

slutticus wrote:

It's sick how religious dogma can fuck up a nice ritual like the Eucharist.

A nice one like ritual cannibalism?

slutticus wrote:

They completely miss the point.

Yes, if you believe that the unleavened wheat wafers turn into Jeezus peezus, the fact that the same might happen to rice wafers under special circumstances of wheat intolerance really isn't that much of a stretch.

On the other hand, it is possible that the mere fact that a little girl who can't tolerate wheat products also will have problems with the Holy Eucharist might, in and of itself, be a grievous insult to the dogma of transubstantiation (after all, after the priest is done with it, she's supposed to be eating human flesh not wheat) --thus the mere necessity of having to switch to Host Lite might be reasonably seen as a heresy (within the absurd context of Catholic orthodoxy). So, while it is fucked up, it can be viewed as internally consistent in a way.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Time those people to leave the catholic church, methinks

Sheesh. You'd think the church leaders would open their Bibles and realize that individuals, not doctrine, take precedance in God's eyes.

That girl and family should come to my church, or pretty much any lainline protestant church - we're all happy to serve wheatless communion if that's what someone needs. We also tend to serve wine AND grape juice, for those who don't want alcohol, can't have it, or need to avoid it due to past abuses.

This is all just plain sad - to give higher regard to the "proper" way of doign communion at the expense of the needs of a baptized church member is just damned sad.

[redqueen]

5. I'm sure many Catholic churches wouldn't be this idiotic, either. n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Probably not. And, to give him credit, I think the Pope would decry this

if it manages to go up the "courts" to the Pope himself, I'd like to think that this Pope would say "What the hell? Who cares what it's made of? She can't have wheat, you whistleasses."

[histohoney]

6. No matter

what the Diocese says, if that little girl wants communion with God, God is there for her.
Jesus broke bread with saints and sinners, even broke some dietary laws to share and show compassion. Jesus gave us the parable of the Shepard looking for his sheep on the Sabbath, work was against the laws of Moses but no one would think anything about looking for lost property or loved ones on the Sabbath.
In other words,obey the laws but use commonsense and compassion and bend a little for kindness.

[cosmicaug]

9. Dietary laws.

histohoney wrote:

Jesus broke bread with saints and sinners, even broke some dietary laws to share and show compassion.

What dietary laws are described as being broken by the Jesus character in the Bible? I knew about the Sabbath stuff (this is very well known) but I didn't know about dietary law breaking.

Just wondering.

[histohoney]

12. Sorry

late reply, the lab calls me. By eating with certain members of society and in their homes it was considered unclean. Taking water from a Sumerian woman was considered unclean.
I guess thats what I mean by dietary laws, there are rules about where and from whom you can eat.
Like you, I can't think of a particular food item.
But just my opinion, I don't think it matters Rice or Wheat. It's the ideas of coming to the Lords table and sharing the experience with him.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Aaaaand histohoney makes line #16

See sig.

[markus]

10. DUPE

Haven't we been through this before?

Let's all point out what a bunch of driviling idiots the Catholic Church hierarchy have become.

Toss in a mention of priestly pederasty.

Then someone will accuse of us an anti-Catholic bias.

Ultimately, the Whole Fooder will point out all of the possible alaternatives, and mention what other churches do.

If that's not good enough, you could go search up the original post.

[redqueen]

11. Dude, it's one diocese

Geez... and I thought the dogma enforcement posts were bad.

[matcom]

15. SURE IS A DUPE

i posted this story WEEKS ago :eyes:

[redqueen]

20. Ahh, I thought you meant a dupe in general

as in any story about the church ends up the same way.

I did a search but not of the archives... mea frickin culpa. :eyes:

[scarlet_owl]

13. This isn't right.

I'm currently studying to enter the Catholic Church, and I haven't found anything suggesting that a rice host wouldn't do. There is even a thing called "spiritual communion" where the wine and host isn't even involved. There are things they could do to accomodate this girl. I don't think Christ would approve.

[AngryOldDem]

19. It's in Canon Law

Canon law stipulates that the host must be wheaten only. (I think it goes back to what was served at the Last Supper, or what was only available in Christ's day.) Supposedly there is a thing called a "low gluten host" that has 0.01% of the gluten in an average host.

I doubt very seriously that a "spiritual Communion" would be recognized as licit -- especially for a First Communion.

And I agree -- I really do not think that Christ would care what the host is made of. But never let the true spirit of Christ get in the way of the rules.

Whenever this issue comes up, I think the upshot is that it makes the Church look ridiclous. Sorry, but my opinion.

[onebigbadwulf]

16. Celiac's disease is awful!

That poor little girl. I can't understand the unbending intolerance that religion exudes on a daily basis.

[Gothic Sponge]

17. Just another reason in a long list of why i hate organized religion!

[Momgonepostal]

21. Just for the record...

My family goes to a church were we take communion every Sunday. Bread is part of that. We recently found out my daughter is allergic to wheat. We asked, and were told that if we wanted to bring special wheat-free bread for her, that would be fine, that's it's not a big deal.

[supernova]

18. My heart goes out to that mother

who is esentially out ot change canon law over this. I wish her luck, but I honestly don't think it will happen in her lifetime, if ever.

[Beer Snob-50]

22. I read that earlier and am ashamed of being a catholic

my boss has celiac and he was ripping over that article all afternoon.