First Holy Communion
and the Catholic Church have been in the news a lot this past year. I’ve read
many articles about how the Catholic Church doesn’t allow the use of a gluten-free
Eucharist. However, this really isn’t NEW news as you can read in this article on Catholicnewsagency.com. The gluten-free host problem is also
something that people with food allergies and celiac disease have been dealing
with for a while.
Little Guy is
currently going to “Sunday School” every week to prepare for this First
Communion this spring. Although we used to avoid gluten a few years ago, Little
Guy passed his gluten food challenge and he now eats it regularly. Still, I
know many adults and children with a wheat allergy or celiac disease who can’t
eat the Eucharist since it’s made out of wheat.
That’s why I asked a
fellow food allergy mom (and really, all around food allergy EXPERT), Jenine
Lawton, to write this guest post! Jenine’s daughter, Shea, has a wheat allergy,
and Jenine did a ton of research before Shea’s First Communion to make sure
Shea could eat a safe Communion wafer.
I’m honored to have
Jenine guest post today!
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Jenine and her daughter, Shea, during First Holy Communion |
Low-Gluten Hosts for First Communion with Food
Allergies or Celiac Disease
Q&A with Jenine
Lawton
What was your first step in finding an allergy
friendly host?
My first step was
contacting my church. I contacted my pastor, then met with a parish coordinator
who purchases the hosts for the parish Then I started my quest to contact the
companies who make the hosts, check websites, and find local retailers.
Who did you have to call to get the
ingredients and baking information for the First Communion hosts?
I called the companies to ask questions first
hand like:
- How much wheat (ppm – parts per million) is in their low gluten host
- Where does the wheat come from (the US or Germany)?
- How is it packaged?
Did you do a food challenge with a low gluten
host?
I took my daughter to the allergist to do the
food challenge with the host that I found to be the lowest ppm gluten host in
America (less than 20 ppm).
What about drinking the wine at communion?
We chose to not do the wine. Our parish is
VERY large and typically does not do wine at communion for the congregation.
Shea would have needed a specially cleaned chalice each week for just her (so
as not to risk cross contamination from others drinking from same chalice).
How does your church know when to have the
safe host ready every Sunday?
For those who need the regular low gluten host
(less than 100 ppm), they will take the low gluten host out of the package (in
the room in the back) and place into the low gluten vessel. (This is another
risk though for those who are sensitive, since you can’t always be sure that
those doing this have clean hands).
Do you have to let your church know which mass
you'll be attending every Sunday?
Thankfully, our pastor has taught the other 2
priests our special procedure for Shea.
However, we do get to mass 15 minutes early and let the priest know that
we are there and Shea’s pyx (the container that carries the host) will be on
the altar table.
Do you have to sit in a special spot?
We sit close to the front right, near to where
my daughter will walk to stand and wait for her special pyx with her host.
How do you prevent cross contact at First
Communion and at every mass moving forward?
I purchased the package of low gluten (less
than 20ppm) Cavannagh hosts from a local supplier in Philadelphia. They are
individually wrapped and I keep them in my refrigerator. I put her low gluten
Eucharist in Shea’s special pyx prior to mass. I then place that pyx (which has
a special teal ribbon tied in a very small bow) on the altar table. The priest
opens the pyx and does not handle the host. Shea then takes her pyx back to the
pew after putting the host in her mouth. After mass, I take the pyx to the
special sink to clean it in the back of the church.
In case it helps anyone, below are the details
of some of my research into the companies that make low-gluten hosts. Please make sure to call these companies
directly yourself as information and suppliers may change.
Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Missouri:
- The number of boxes of low gluten hosts has increased in the past few years.
- The wonderful sister who answered the phone the day I called was EXTREMELY knowledgeable about manufacturing as well as even the specs on the wheat starch raw product that they receive.
- While they state it is under 100 ppm (parts per million) gluten/wheat protein, they batch test and the highest it has been is 60 ppm with the lowest around 30 ppm.
- I did pick up a few from my parish to take to my allergist, but my allergist chose NOT to use these.
- They are a distributor of low gluten hosts. The supplier of the hosts is Parish Crossroads which is made in Germany. I wanted to buy hosts from a U.S. based company so I did not choose them.
- They are a distributor of low gluten hosts. Peggy Moroney is fantastic! (I had spoken to her before because I had to ask about the wine).
- They carry the Cavagnah brand of wafers AND I was able to order them (I could not order directly from Cavagnah because I am the “public”. The wafers are individually wrapped. Then there is no issue with cross contact from anyone else handling them because they can stay in the wrapper until unwrapped by the person taking the low gluten communion.
In the end, we did a food challenge at the allergists with
the Cavagnah brand – and Shea passed! The allergist stated she is currently
allowed only one host a week even if it is less than 20ppm. That is fine with
us since we only do mass once a week.
We know that this solution may not work for everyone because
they may be even more sensitive than my daughter. Or, their parish may not be
as accommodating about arrangements for a special pyx. Plus, the child must
have a willingness to stand near front of the church each week waiting for the
priest to give them a special pyx.
I continue to ask for prayer that Pope Francis hears my plea to
go back to the truly gluten free hosts (even if it is just for those that
present a letter from a doctor). I have learned a lot about wheat in the
process. The sister that I spoke to at the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual
Adoration discussed how VERY different the wheat is now from what it was at the
time of Jesus.
Prayers are also continued that God may help the researchers and
doctors find a cure for food allergies or possibly even that my daughter may
"outgrow" her food allergies.
I hope this information helps others. Please ask any
question in the comments below, or tell us more about your experience with low
gluten hosts and First Communion.
Here are some pictures from Shea’s Holy Communion:
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Shea looking beautiful in her First Communion dress! |
2 comments:
This is very informative, thank you for posting, Shea looks so pretty!
She sure does! Thanks for the feedback Diane!
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