Availability of low gluten Holy Communion. Only one of two types (low gluten verses non-gluten) of alternative wafers is approved by the Catho-lic Church. In 2004 two nuns, Sisters Jane Heschmeyer and Lynn Marie D’Souza, of the Benedictine convent in Clyde, Missouri, developed a Communion wafer that has been approved as valid material for the Eucharist by the Holy See. While it is not com-pletely gluten free, it is low gluten and is offered by the Church.

Catholic parishioners should keep in mind that the Church cannot change the actual material which Christ used to institute the sacred meal, the Eucharist, and so we are bound by teaching and tradition to use wheat and fruit of vine as the basic materials for the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist. It is essential that one also keep in mind that our Church teaches that Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ are truly present in the both the Sacred Body and the precious Blood. Those who cannot tolerate any amount of gluten are encouraged to receive the Sacrament in the precious Blood only. While the low gluten wafers are low, they are not totally free of wheat. It must also be recognized, that a priest is not allowed to consecrate any other materials save for wheat and fruit of the vine—privately providing a Catholic priest with non-approved, gluten-free hosts is not permissible. The option of precious Blood is always avail-able.

The norms for the distribution of low gluten, alternative wafers, once consecrated by the priest, calls for distribution by the priest only. Please come to my Communion line and ask me for the low gluten Communion, which is kept in a separate ciborium.