The Duty of Delight

By Annamarie Adkins

The Eucharist, the source and summit of the Faith, is the greatest gift we can receive as Catholics. But some of the Faithful cannot receive that same gift, despite their desire to be one body with their fellow Catholics in Christ.

They are celiacs: individuals who cannot ingest wheat or gluten — including rye and barley – without a negative autoimmune reaction and serious intestinal damage.

According to a study by the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, almost one out of every 133 Americans suffers from celiac disease. That means that there may be one celiac, or more, in every Catholic parish with more than 100 members in the United States.

That celiac may even be the priest of the parish or the bishop of the diocese, like the co-adjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati, Dennis Schnurr.

Viable options exist for those who suffer from celiac disease to participate in the Eucharist, but much confusion and some ignorance still remains. What alternatives are there from receiving a traditional wheat host? And how can the Church, and her priests, serve parishioners with celiac better?

First Communion, Sans Gluten

These questions come up particularly during First Communion season, when thousands of boys and girls — some with celiac — are preparing for one of the most important moments of their lives.

Gregory Wittmann, 10, of Howell, Mich., was diagnosed with celiac disease before he was two years old. His mother, Maureen, spoke with the Register about Greg’s experience being a celiac Catholic.

“Shortly after we had the diagnosis, I was at Mass,” said the homeschooling mother of seven children. “My husband, Rob, and I went up for communion, and as I took it, it hit me: Greg will never be able to take the Host.”

When the time came for Greg’s First Communion in 2006, the Wittmanns went to their priest and explained the situation. “He was great about it and didn’t think it was a big deal,” said Maureen. “’We’ll just give him the Precious Blood!’ he told us.”

On First Communion day, the Wittmanns’ priest made it a teaching moment for the entire parish, as he explained how the Real Presence of Jesus is fully present in the Precious Blood as well as in the Bread.

It’s been a little more challenging for Greg at the family’s new parish since they moved last year. “The second or third week we were there, I saw part of the presider’s host floating in the Precious Blood — contaminating it, if you will,” explained Maureen.

Those with celiac disease not only have to abstain from ingesting wheat, but also must avoid coming into contact with wheat. “Contamination” can occur from the commingling of a wheat presider’s host in a chalice or from others drinking from the same chalice after ingesting a traditional wheat host.

“Greg can’t eat pepperoni from the top of a pizza because it’s contaminated,” said Maureen. “Any amount of gluten can damage his intestines; I don’t want to set him up for lymphoma or any other diseases.” So far, her efforts have paid off. “His antibodies are low, which means we’ve been successful protecting him from contamination,” she said.

Some may think Maureen may be overreacting, but the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research backs up her concerns. It has found that celiacs are more likely to be afflicted with problems relating to malabsorption, including osteoporosis, tooth enamel defects, central and peripheral nervous system disease, pancreatic disease, internal hemorrhaging, organ disorders (gall bladder, liver and spleen), and gynecological disorders. Untreated celiac disease has also been linked an increased risk of certain types of cancer, especially intestinal lymphoma.

To cope at their new parish, Maureen has had to watch carefully which side the presider’s chalice goes to, then direct Greg to a different chalice.

This protocol all changed when the Wittmanns discovered a low-gluten host developed by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Mo.

“I buy the new hosts from the sister, put one in a pyx and take it up to the altar before Mass for Father,” explains Maureen. “When Father goes up there, he opens it up and it gets consecrated along with the rest of the hosts.”

Another cross-contamination issue arises when Greg needs to receive his special, low-gluten host: the priest, who has handled the traditional wheat hosts, cannot touch Greg’s host, or he’ll get wheat particles on it.

“Because it’s a small church, the priest reaches behind him and grabs the pyx off the altar, and because he can’t touch the host, he drops the host from the pyx into Greg’s hands,” said Maureen. “Then the priest hands me the pyx, as I am right behind Greg, and then I get Communion.”

But the process doesn’t run as smoothly when the Wittmanns visit a new church and don’t get a chance to make accommodations with the priest ahead of time. Then Greg has to take his chances with a chalice — unless the Precious Blood runs out. When that happens, he’s out of luck.

“One thing we trained him to do was a Spiritual Communion, at times like a few Sundays ago at a different church when there was no Precious Blood left once we got up there,” said Maureen. “He just asks Jesus to come into his heart.”

The Sisters’ Solution

A Spiritual Communion or taking a chance with a possibly contaminated chalice were the only options for celiac Catholics until January of 2004, when an order of Benedictine sisters started selling a low-gluten host 10 years in the making.

Their hosts are the only ones with approval from the United States Conference of Catholic bishops because they are made of 100% wheat starch with enough gluten to effect bread.

When tested by an independent agency, the low-gluten host had only .01% — or 10 parts per million – gluten. Reportedly, most celiacs would have to eat 270 in one day to become ill.

“We advise people to check with their doctors before trying our host, but we have had no report to us that after consuming our breads anyone became sick,” Sister Sophia Becker, OSB, assistant manager of altar bread department, told the Register. “Still, some people choose not to use it.”

The hosts last four to six months when refrigerated or frozen, and are sold in bags of 20 to individuals and parishes. In 2004, their first year of sales, only 2,800 bags were purchased. Now, the Sisters have 3,700 patrons and sold 9,000 bags in 2008.

Barbara Coughlin, 56, a medical consultant for the state of Connecticut, told the Register that she thanks God for the Benedictine Sisters every time she receives their low-gluten host at Mass. “Once you are deprived of something, you have so much more appreciation for it,” she said. “I never take it for granted.”

Diagnosed nine years ago, the Kensington, Conn., resident said that the worst part of her diagnosis was not receiving the Body of Christ. “Celiac disease is very socially isolating; it makes you feel like a spiritual leper,” she explained. “When my daughter made her First Communion before the low-gluten host was developed, I could not receive the Body of Christ with her.”

Coughlin said that when the Sisters came out with the low-gluten host, it made all the difference in the world for her. “Once I felt fully in communion with the Church it was easier for me to accept my celiac disease,” she said. “I truly, truly believe this is a work of the Holy Spirit.”

Cutting Through the Confusion

Catholic laity are not the only ones using the low-gluten hosts. Sister Sophia reported that she has patrons from Protestant denominations — such as Anglicans and Lutherans — and estimates that about 150 priests order presider hosts.

Father John P. Donovan, JCL, is one celiac priest who has been a self-proclaimed “guinea pig” for the Sisters since they started trying to develop a low-gluten host.

As a canon lawyer in the diocese of Syracuse and one of the priests who advised Bernard Cardinal Law during a controversy over celiac Catholics in Boston before the low-gluten host was discovered, “I get calls from the entire English speaking world,” he told the Register. “Somehow, they all know about me. Every year during First Communion season, I get calls from New Zealand, Australia, England and all over the United States.”

The 50-year-old pastor of St. James Catholic Church in Johnson City, N.Y., was diagnosed with celiac disease 10 years ago, and was ordained a priest in 1986.

“My first question when diagnosed was, ‘Can I still have the Eucharist?’ My second question was, ‘Can I still have beer?” Father Donovan said with a laugh. “I had been symptomatic for 20 years, but never diagnosed.”

He still ends up being the “point person” for many celiac Catholics and their priests. “I am sending the low-gluten host all over the diocese; people are calling the liturgy person in the diocese, and they tell them to call me,” said Father Donovan. “It’s been 10 years since we’ve known about celiac disease, but it doesn’t seem to sink in.”

Father Donovan said he’s surprised by how many people still don’t know about the disease, and how many priests refuse to cooperate in one fashion or another — sometimes not even allowing celiacs to receive the Precious Blood. Often, Father Donovan is asked to intervene.

He’s also concerned that ignorance of celiac disease may lead some men who suffer from it to completely rule out the priesthood. “I would hope they’d at least ask questions,” Father Donovan said. “Hopefully they would ask someone who would be knowledgeable about celiac disease. I think it’s up to the individual bishop if a man wants to take the risk.”

On July 24, 2003, then-Cardinal Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith wrote the following in a letter regarding low-gluten hosts and priests: “The Ordinary is competent to give permission for an individual priest or layperson to use low-gluten hosts or mustum [grape juice that is either fresh or-preserved by methods that suspend its fermentation without altering its nature] for the celebration of the Eucharist. Permission can be granted habitually, for as long as the situation continues which occasioned the granting of permission.”

The letter goes on to say, “A priest unable to receive Communion under the species of bread, including low-gluten hosts, may not celebrate the Eucharist individually, nor may he preside at a concelebration. 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.”

Celiac Vocations?

Another celiac priest, who is now preparing to be elevated to the Archbishopric of Cincinnati, is Dennis Schnurr, 60. Diagnosed eight years ago, but symptomatic for 30 years, he was ordained a priest in 1974. He uses a low-gluten host in his private chapel for daily Mass, and ingests a small portion of wheat host — about ¼ square inch — on most public occasions; any more would cause a negative physical reaction.

Despite the fact that wheat makes him sick, Archbishop Schnurr still defends its presence in the Host. “The Church must be faithful to the matter and form of the Sacraments as given to her by Christ. If the matter or form is changed, we no longer have the Sacrament,” he explained in an email to the Register.

The validity of the matter — bread and wine — to be consecrated as the Eucharist is found in Canon 925 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law; the host for Mass must be made only of wheat.

According to “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” issued in March of 2004, the sacrament is invalidated if any substitutes to bread and wine are used. Paragraph 48 of the document states:

“The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. It follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament.”

Archbishop Schnurr offers some words of consolation. “In cases where a person cannot ingest the smallest amount of wheat or alcohol, I have reminded them of the great consolation that St. Therese of Lisieux experienced in spiritual communion,” he wrote. “In the terminal stages of her illness, she was unable to ingest any nutrition, including the Holy Eucharist. Still, she expressed consolation in that she knew that her desire alone was enough to bring Jesus to her.”

His Excellency also has advice for men who have celiac disease but may feel called to the priesthood: “If such a man did [approach me], I would want to determine the severity of his wheat intolerance. If it was not serious, I would refer the matter to the Holy See with my recommendation,” he wrote. “If he suffers from the most serious form of gluten intolerance, the priesthood could not be pursued.

“It should also be remembered that, when God gives a vocation — marriage, single life, consecrated life, priesthood — he also ‘equips’ the person for his or her particular vocation,” continued the Archbishop. “If a man cannot ingest even the smallest particle of wheat, there is reason to question whether God is calling him to priesthood.”

Archbishop Schnurr’s counsel — and the possibility that celiac men may still be able to be priests — is good news to people like Maureen Wittmann and her son, Gregory. “Once when I was praying at our former parish, an old man came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘One of your boys is going to be a priest someday,’” she told the Register. “When our pastor heard, he said, ‘It’s going to be Gregory.’”

Annamarie Adkins writes from St. Paul, Minn., and has two young sons who are allergic to wheat/gluten. She dedicates this story in memory of her mother-in-law, Elaine, a celiac who died from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2003.

For more information on low-gluten hosts, contact the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration http://www.benedictinesisters.org/bread/low_gluten.php

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