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Girl's First Communion Nixed Over Wheat-Free Wafer

POSTED: 11:52 am EDT August 12, 2004
UPDATED: 2:31 pm EDT August 12, 2004

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.

"In my mind, I think they must not understand celiac," said Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman, 30. "It's just not a viable option. How does it corrupt the tradition of the Last Supper? It's just rice versus wheat."

It's more than that, according to church doctrine, which holds that communion wafers must have at least some unleavened wheat, as did the bread served at the Last Supper.

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.

Pelly-Waldman rejected the offer, saying even a small amount of gluten could harm her child.

Gluten is a food protein contained in wheat and other grains.

"This is not an issue to be determined at the diocesan or parish level, but has already been decided for the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world by Vatican authority," said Bishop John M. Smith.

"Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist," Smith said in a prepared statement released Thursday by the diocese.

Celiac sprue disease, an autoimmune disorder, occurs in people with a genetic intolerance of gluten.

When consumed by celiac sufferers, gluten damages the lining of the small intestine, blocking nutrient absorption and leading to vitamin deficiencies, bone-thinning and sometimes gastrointestinal cancer.

It isn't the first such communion controversy. In 2001, the family of a 5-year-old Natick, Mass., girl with the disease left the Catholic church after being denied permission to use a rice wafer.

Some Catholic churches allow the use of no-gluten hosts, others don't, according to Elaine Monarch, executive director of the Celiac Disease Foundation, a Studio City, Calif.-based support group for sufferers.

"It is a dilemma," said Monarch. "It is a major frustration that someone who wants to follow their religion is restricted from doing so because some churches will not allow it."

"It is an undue hardship on a person who wants to practice their religion and needs to compromise their health to do so," Monarch said.

Haley Waldman, a shy, brown-haired tomboy who loves surfing and hates to wear a dress, was diagnosed with the disorder at 5.

"I'm on a gluten-free diet because I can't have wheat, I could die," she said in an interview Wednesday.

Last year, in anticipation of the Brielle Elementary School third grader reaching Holy Communion age, her mother told officials at St. Denis Catholic Church in Manasquan that the girl could not have the standard host.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Stanley P. Lukaszewski, told her that a gluten-free substitute was unacceptable.

But a priest at a nearby parish contacted Pelly-Waldman after learning about the dilemma, volunteering to administer the sacrament using a gluten-free host.

She said she won't identify the priest or his parish for fear of repercussions from diocese.

On May 2, Waldman -- wearing a white communion dress -- made her first Holy Communion in a ceremony at the priest's church. Her mother, who also suffers from celiac and had not received communion since her diagnosis four years ago, also received.

But last month, the diocese told the priest that Waldman's sacrament would not be validated by the church because of the substitute wafer.

"I struggled with telling her that the sacrament did not happen," said Pelly-Waldman. "She lives in a world of rules. She says `Mommy, do we want to break a rule? Are we breaking a rule?"'

Now, the mother is seeking papal intervention. She has written to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, challenging the church's policy.

"This is a church rule, not God's will, and it can easily be adjusted to meet the needs of the people, while staying true to the traditions of our faith," Pelly-Waldman said in the letter.

For her part, Pelly-Waldman -- who attends Mass every Sunday with her four children -- said she is not out to bash the church, just to change the policy that affects her daughter.

"I'm hopeful. Do I think it will be a long road to change? Yes. But I'm raising an awareness and I'm taking it one step at a time," she said.

Looks like some deep catechesis is in order; emphasise that to receive under one kind (either the Host or the Chalice) is sufficient if someone is unable to recieve both.

My daughter postponed receiving 1st Communion because her diet did not allow wheat flour (gluten). The precious blood was not an option either because she could not take the sugar in the wine.

Fortunately it was only a matter of months before my daughter was off the diet and received her 1st Holy Communion.

Since alcoholic priests can use some kind of grape juice instead of wine for their own communion, I don't see why the Vatican can't dispense the requirement for wheat communion bread and allow no-gluten bread for those with this disorder.

The priest who gave her the non-wheat communion wafer was wrong. He also caused a lot of pain for the little girl and her family. Pain like this is what can happen when a priest, even with good intentions, disobeys mother church.

Paul

"Bread" without wheat is not bread in the terms of the Church, and may not be used for the Eucharist (there was a major scandal early in the twentieth century when Rome discovered that a convent of nuns had been supplying a considerable number of parishes with hosts made from rice flour - because it looked so nice and white! No, I am not making that up!]. However, the Church certainly permits people with coeliac disease to receive the Precious Blood - and if need be it is possible to use a very dry wine for the purpose, such that a couple of drops will not trigger any sugar allergy.
The Vatican does not give permission for the use of non-alcoholic "wine" for the Eucharist. I suppose the moral there is that people with coeliac disease should avoid alcoholism (and presumably vice versa).
Any priest who has the colossal nerve to purport to celebrate the Eucharist and administer as Holy Communion something which has been specifically forbidden by the Bishop should reflect upon the well-known teaching of Saint Ignatius of Antioch: let that Eucharist be accounted valid which is done by the Bishop or by his delegate.
Incognitus

There should have been no problem. taking the the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ is his entire essence. In other words the wine is sufficient.

Little Green Coat please do not refer to it as wine, it is the presious blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.But maybe that is a topic for another post.
Stephanos I

An article in our local newspaper about a girl whose family left the Catholic Church over a similar issue (her bishop recommended that she just receive Christ under the form of the Precious Blood, but she and her family felt this was not acceptable) stated that a convent of cloistered nuns somewhere in the US is now making pure wheat hosts with EXTREMELY low gluten content, for those with celiac disease.

Oh shut up, Elaine. It's not "some" churches (I suppose she means parishes) that don't allow this, it is the Catholic Church herself.

I feel awful for this little girl and her family. Neverthless, what's preventing her from receiving the Precious Blood? If the mother's waiting for a response from the Vatican, her little girl could be an octogenarian before she gets a response.

Logos Teen

Incognitus is absolutely correct. The bishop has the last word on it, if there is any meaning to the fact that we are apostolic Churches.

What needs modification here is not the Catholic Church's practice which is based on SACRED Tradition, but the family's education on the purpose of Communion. It is NOT to make someone feel "at home" or acceptable in the eyes of their peers, but so that we can be ONE WITH CHRIST in a most unimaginably intimate way. They should know, or at least the mother, that Christ is fully present in both the bread and/OR wine, so they should have no complaints. If she does not understand this, so central to the faith of the Catholic Church, more catechesis, not more accomodation, is the proper action.

Blessings,
Marduk

There is a lady in the RC where I play who has this same wheat allergy. The pastor's solution is for her to receive from the chalice at the beginning of communion. She's happy with that, and so is everyone else. Do any of the comments we have read point out to any of you that many Catholics don't understand the purpose of communion, or even what it is?

Assuming this lady is of good will, it should be explained to her that the Church is obliged to be cautious in such matters: we know that Christ used wheaten bread and wine from grapes and that this was transformed into His Body and Blood. What happens if one substitutes some other substance is unknown and we simply can't take the chance.
This issue has come up before regarding the missions; it has been suggested that the Church use whatever matter is the sustenance of the particular culture; eg, rice wafers and plum wine in the Orient, or for that matter [as a few whackadoos attempted in the 70s] potato chips and coke in modern suburbia.
The Church has always insisted in using the same matter that Christ did in 1st century Israel.
And as many have pointed out He is fully present in either of the sacred species.

You may think I am off the wall, but ...

If we truly believe Christ is present in the wheat and wine- that the wheat and wine truly become the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ- can we get sick from receiving?

Marya

Yes, of course; the Eucharist still has the appearance -including all the attributes- of bread and wine.

I have heard that in the United States there have been cases where Roman Catholic priests have used sugar bread, coloured hosts for children, cookies, for mass in direct violation of RC Church Canons.

Then it's quite like hypocricy that they declare this girls' communion invalid. Where does it say that the bread must necessarily contain gluten? It says wheat, not glutten.

Mexican,

Gluten is a protein that naturally occurs in wheat.

Many years,

Neil