Gluten-Free Simplicity

  In a special “Directive” released to the press yesterday evening, regarding the “seriousness of the Swine Flu”, Bishop Edmond Carmody of the Diocese of Corpus Christi included “people with celiac or special needs” in his seven (7)-item list of “directives to Priests regarding distribution of Communion in wake of N1H1 virus situation”.

   He wrote to his “Brother Priests”, “Due to the seriousness of the Swine Flu, which recently took the life of a child here in Texas, let us take the following measures as a precaution until the danger has passed.”  The list of Directive Items can be viewed here.

  The list includes reference to practices including: sharing of the chalice, placing the holy communion in hand versus on the tongue, and other practices such as holding of hands during prayer or kissing as a sign of peace afterwards.

  The Seventh (#7) item reads:

“(7) Care should be taken to make sure that people with celiac or special needs may receive communion in a manner appropriate to their condition.”

Followed by:

“Once the emergency of this danger has passed, we will immediately return to our traditional practices.”

And:

“Let us pray for all those who are suffering from this dangerous influenza.”

Then:

“Sincerely yours in Christ…”

  It is wonderful that this man has mentioned “people with celiac” in his directive.  I would like to thank the Bishop for his thoughtfulness.  One could probably express their feelings directly by contacting the Diocese.

  On a very closely related topic: I recall hearing various concerns over the years about Gluten-Free Communions.  A great example is a posting on “Gluten-Free Communion” on the Only Sometimes Clever Blog.  And there are other opinions as well. 

  Unfortunately, there are even some which appear to completely miss the point about the known harms related to gluten-contamination for a person with Celiac Disease.  For example, in the case of a child with Celiac Disease:  

“The pastor of their parish had refused to offer Holy Communion in the form of gluten-free wafers, having referred to a document written by Benedict XVI before becoming pope that ruled these are invalid under Church law” (from a Spero News article). 

  This even caught the ear of an “investigative” blog known as “Clerical Whispers“.  That cannot have been good news for the Clergy.  And in other forums, even anger was expressed.  Even the Holy See got involved issuing a decision indicating that it simply could not be a Communion Wafer without Gluten!

  And then of course, we have the Gluten-Free “Living Without” magazine publishing recipes for how to make “Gluten-Free Communion Host“.  This last article by June Marcley at “Living Without” could probably be very informative for many — even those who are currently directly involved in this situation.  I say this mainly because this article takes the scholarly approach and offers a comparison /contrast of differing religions all of whom probably worship the same Deity.

  So it is fair to say that this issue has some history and at least 2,000 years of baggage.

  Anyway, getting back to the original point here about how this Bishop mentioned “people with Celiac” in his Swine Flu” “Directive” — still a heavy question nags me:

  In light of the Bishop’s Directive, I wonder what this will mean for ”people with Celiac”, (quoting the Bishop):

“Once the emergency of this danger has passed” and the clergy act as they have been directed to, “immediately return to our traditional practices.” 

  So will all the Celiac faithful now be afforded a Gluten-Free Communion?

Update (May 1, 2009): The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, has published a different Bishop’s guidelines which include a little more clarity regarding those with Celiac disease and Communion practices during this flu scare.

• Being Alert to How Ones Culture Promotes Gluten Use Might Help One Attain Gluten-Free Simplicity 10. Being Alert to How Ones Culture Promotes Gluten Use Might Help One Attain Gluten-Free Simplicity.   Does your culture promote the use of gluten?  If so, how? My culture (Southeastern U.S.A., Umpteenth generation, of Scottish/Irish/English descent origin) promotes gluten in a big way.  For my people, what is a dinner......
• Feeding Two Birds with ONE Seed   I was checking out this blog titled, "Deb Brammer: You and me -- working together" and its posting, "Gluten-Free Company".  It started out with, "You've just invited company and now you find out they have to have a gluten-free diet. Now you are having second thoughts. What will you......
• A Newly Organized List of Gluten-Free Menus A Newly Organized List of Gluten-Free Menus (Revised) (Updated April 7,  2009 By William T. Beverly, Ph.D.) HEADS-UP!!!  Remember, just because a well-meaning restaurant menu, corporation, person, owner, waiter or website claims a dish is "Gluten-Free" does NOT mean it is in fact Gluten-Free.  Unfortunately, there are many variable factors that can introduce Gluten into......
• Improving Your G-F Simplicity IQ If you review these items and find the answers, you will probably improve your G-F Simplicity IQ level. Study / Review Items: Very Basic Description of Celiac Sprue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease. http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/956622658.html. Primary sources of gluten in food. http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2008/031.html Sources of hidden gluten in food. http://www.babitty.com/?p=89. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/collections/gluten_free_recipes.html#tips Non edible items containing gluten.......
• Way #89: Learn Some Kitchen Basics so You Can Experiment and Enhance your Sense of Gluten-Free Simplicity Way #89: Learn Some Kitchen Basics so You Can Experiment and Enhance your Sense of Gluten-Free Simplicity:   It is one thing to be about to try new foods here and there that are made by another person for us.  But unless one is extremely resourceful,  that can be [/caption]......

• The Face of Evil Bishop Richard Williamson says No Gas Cambers existed.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6C9BuXe2RM As time passes and memories of mass slaughter diminish, many people start to doubt that people could do such ghastly things to others.  They think, 'can it really be true?  Surely not?'.  And so it is with the nutty Bishop. Don't......
• Duh! Moments Well my pick of the 'fun blogs' today is Duhism - The Impractical Wisdumb of Bob Tzu. From the 'wisdum' contained in his free ebook The Duh of Success Vol 1 right down to being invited to 'Ask Bob Tzu' everything exudes humor - example: 'Bob Tzu is available to......
• MonaVie Pulse is Not Very Effective for Lowering Cholesterol? There are very few legit claims that MonaVie can legally claim about their products. It's worth reviewing some of these in before investing any hard-earned money in MonaVie Pulse. MonaVie Pulse is Inferior to Medicine Many MonaVie distributors claim that MonaVie's products are superior to medicine. It's worth noting that......
• Scales 101 When it comes to the world of music, scales are a group of musical notes that are collected in both ascending and descending order, and they are responsible for providing material for musical work, including a combination of both harmony and melody that can be converted into instrumental play. Scales......
• Harmony 101 When it comes to music, you can look at harmony as the use of chords or pitches simultaneously. The study behind harmony involves the study of chords and the way that they are constructed as well as harmonic progressions and the connection principles that are used in order to govern......