User:ADM/Religion and coeliac disease

The relationship between religion and coeliac disease has often been publicized due to the fact that the consumption of wheat and gluten occurs in important religious rituals such as Eucharist and Passover.

Christian churches and the Eucharist

Most mainstream Christian churches offer their communicants gluten-free alternatives to the sacramental bread, usually in the form of a rice-based cracker or gluten-free bread. These include United Methodist, Christian Reformed, Episcopal, Lutheran, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many others.

Roman Catholic position

Roman Catholic doctrine states that for a valid Eucharist, the bread must be made from wheat. In 2002, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved German-made low-gluten hosts, which meet all of the Catholic Church's requirements, for use in Italy; although not entirely gluten-free, they were also approved by the Italian Celiac Association.

Requests for rice wafers

Some Catholic coeliac sufferers have requested permission to use rice wafers; such petitions have always been denied. The issue is more complex for priests. Though a Catholic (lay or ordained) receiving under either form (bread or wine) is receiving Christ "whole and entire"—his body, blood, soul, and divinity—the priest, who is acting in persona Christi, is required to receive under both species when offering Mass—not for the validity of his Communion, but for the fullness of the sacrifice of the Mass.

1994 CDF declaration

On 22 August 1994, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith apparently barred coeliacs from ordination, stating, "Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of the priest, candidates for the priesthood who are affected by coeliac disease or suffer from alcoholism or similar conditions may not be admitted to holy orders." After considerable debate, the congregation softened the ruling on 24 July 2003 to "Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of a priest, one must proceed with great caution before admitting to Holy Orders those candidates unable to ingest gluten or alcohol without serious harm."

Low-gluten hosts

As of January 2004, an extremely low-gluten host became available in the United States. The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Missouri, produce low-gluten hosts safe for coeliacs and also approved by the Catholic Church for use at Mass. The hosts are made and packaged in a dedicated wheat-free, gluten-free environment. Gluten-content analysis found no detectable amount of gluten, though the reported gluten content is 0.01% as that was the lowest limit of detection possible with the utilized analysis technique. In an article from the Catholic Review (15 February 2004), Dr. Alessio Fasano was quoted as declaring these hosts "perfectly safe for celiac sufferers."

Passover

The Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover) may present problems with its obligation to eat matzo, which is unleavened bread made in a strictly controlled manner from wheat, barley, spelt, oats, or rye. This rules out many other grains that are normally used as substitutes for people with gluten sensitivity, especially for Ashkenazi Jews, who also avoid rice. Many kosher-for-Passover products avoid grains altogether and are therefore gluten-free. Potato starch is the primary starch used to replace the grains. Consuming matzo is mandatory on the first night of Pesach only. Jewish law holds that a person should not seriously endanger one's health in order to fulfill a commandment. Thus, a person with severe coeliac disease is not required, or even allowed, to eat any matzo other than gluten-free matzo. The most commonly used gluten-free matzo is made from oats.

References

Bamberg Anne, Celiac Disease and Eucharistic Communion, in The Jurist, 61, 2001 [2003], p. 281-289. Author’s manuscript online Celiac_Disease_and_Eucharistic_Communion.PDF