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Community => Religion and Philosophy => Topic started by: dpareja on July 10, 2017, 01:59:14 am

Title: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: dpareja on July 10, 2017, 01:59:14 am
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/vatican-gluten-free-bread-communion-1.4197035

Quote
The Vatican has outlawed gluten-free bread used to celebrate the Eucharist during Roman Catholic mass, but says low-gluten hosts can be used — so long as there is enough protein in the wheat to make it without additives.

...

According to the Holy See, the new rules — issued at the request of Pope Francis — are needed because bread is now being sold on the internet and in supermarkets and the Vatican wants to ensure local parishes use adequately pure products.

"Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist. Low-gluten hosts (partially gluten-free) are valid matter, provided they contain a sufficient amount of gluten to obtain the confection of bread without the addition of foreign materials and without the use of procedures that would alter the nature of bread," the letter reads.

Naturally, this has some people with celiac disease worried, so the letter proposes alternatives, like sucking it up and eating a low-gluten host, or telling the priest so he can prepare two chalices of wine, one without a bit of a host and one with, and ensuring that people with celiac disease drink from the former before anyone else has a chance to do so.

Or, of course, the Church could just get with the times and allow gluten-free hosts and avoid all this hassle and nonsense, but that would make too much sense.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: Bob J. on July 10, 2017, 02:40:26 am
Or, of course, the Church could just get with the times and allow gluten-free hosts and avoid all this hassle and nonsense, but that would make too much sense.


I’m confused. What difference does any of this make. It is the body of Christ. The whole point of the longstanding Roman Catholic Church’s position of Mass is that it LITERALLY becomes the body of Christ. It is now religiously totally gluten free. Man flesh or God flesh -  or both?
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: dpareja on July 10, 2017, 03:14:33 am
Or, of course, the Church could just get with the times and allow gluten-free hosts and avoid all this hassle and nonsense, but that would make too much sense.


I’m confused. What difference does any of this make. It is the body of Christ. The whole point of the longstanding Roman Catholic Church’s position of Mass is that it LITERALLY becomes the body of Christ. It is now religiously totally gluten free. Man flesh or God flesh -  or both?

Because apparently God isn't omnipotent enough to turn a wafer into his son's flesh unless it has sufficient wheat content.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: CrowFood on July 12, 2017, 02:05:42 am
So, former Catholic and amateur theologian, I can kinda explain the way this works.

Basically, when it comes to the RCC, everything is about tradition. The bread and wine need to be prepared a certain way. A fun factoid: during prohibition, Catholics were still allowed to make wine because, literally, they had to for their religion. It's part of the way things are done, so that is how they are done. The bread has specific ingredients that haven't been changed in forever, and that's just how it is. It also has to do with the nature of the Eucharist with the RCC. It's the focal point of the religion. Think of it like how most Protestants view the Bible: you can't change it, because it's that important.

I do remember a priest saying that if you have a gluten allergy, you can just drink the wine. If you have an allergy to both...you're kinda SOL.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: dpareja on July 12, 2017, 03:38:40 am
I do remember a priest saying that if you have a gluten allergy, you can just drink the wine. If you have an allergy to both...you're kinda SOL.

The problem is that they dissolve a bit of the host in the wine, so you're still SOL unless the priest prepares a separate cup with no host.

Anyway, favoring ancient traditions over modern realities even when those traditions are provably harmful is... somewhat fucked up.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: RavynousHunter on July 12, 2017, 07:51:09 am
This IS the RCC we're talking about, here.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: Askold on July 12, 2017, 09:05:24 am
Out of curiousity I checked how the Finnish Lutheran church is handling this and gluten free bread has been available since 2012 even though they acknowledge that this breaks the tradition the church wanted to offer bread that doesn't make some of the people sick.

Granted that these traditions do differ between Lutheran and Catholic church, we for example consider it to be merely a symbolic ceremony and that the wine and bread do not turn into Jesus' blood and flesh so I suppose this wasn't such a big deal for us.

Orthodox church has a similar view as the Catholics that the wine and bread are transformed so they may also resist changing to gluten free bread but I am not sure. A quick search reveals Protestant churches in Britain allowing gluten free bread but I didn't find anything about the Orthodox churches about this issue.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: dpareja on July 12, 2017, 01:31:18 pm
But as I said, what does it matter whether the wafer contains gluten or not? If God's omnipotent, he can turn any wafer into Jesus's flesh, gluten or not. If the wafer has to contain some amount of gluten, then God's not omnipotent (or is being a dick).

So the Catholic Church has just admitted that either God's a dick or that God isn't all-powerful--so why call Him God?
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: pyro on July 12, 2017, 04:23:41 pm
[catholic]Refusing to transfigure a gluten-free wafer into the body of Christ does not constitute being a dick. It constitutes a refusal to be impure.[/catholic]
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: dpareja on July 12, 2017, 05:54:57 pm
[catholic]Refusing to transfigure a gluten-free wafer into the body of Christ does not constitute being a dick. It constitutes a refusal to be impure.[/catholic]

Even though that same omnipotent god created Celiac disease that would bar people from eating his son's flesh and thus being saved, etc, etc, etc, insert more eviscerations of silly doctrine here.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: Bob J. on July 12, 2017, 05:58:40 pm
then God's not omnipotent (or is being a dick).

Not mutually exclusive.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: dpareja on July 12, 2017, 06:30:57 pm
then God's not omnipotent (or is being a dick).

Not mutually exclusive.

Didn't imply that they were.
Title: Re: Catholic Church bans gluten-free hosts
Post by: CrowFood on July 12, 2017, 07:44:22 pm
then God's not omnipotent (or is being a dick).

Not mutually exclusive.

Didn't imply that they were.
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