Mike Teacher
08-19-2004, 05:25 PM
A Local story just went National, I was going to post it but the paper it was in is so small they dont have the articles on a website. Anyway, my guess is this will not help the public relations stance of the RCC.
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Long Story Short: A Church refuses to Recognize an Eight Year Old Sick Girls Holy Communion, because she Cant eat Wheat [Gluten], and the Church says if the Communion Wafer doesnt have Wheat, Its Not Valid.
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From CNN
BRIELLE, New Jersey (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine.
Church doctrine holds that Communion wafers, like the bread served at the Last Supper, must have at least some unleavened wheat. Church leaders are reluctant to change anything about the sacrament.
"This is not an issue to be determined at the diocesan or parish level, but has already been decided for the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world by Vatican authority," Trenton Bishop John M. Smith said in a statement last week.
Haley, a shy, brown-haired tomboy who loves surfing and hates wearing dresses, realizes the consequences of taking a wheat wafer.
"I'm on a gluten-free diet because I can't have wheat. I could die," she said last week.
Last year, as the third grader approached Holy Communion age in this Jersey Shore town, her mother told officials at St. Denis Catholic Church in Manasquan that the girl could not have the standard host.
After the church's pastor refused to allow a substitute, a priest at a nearby parish volunteered to offer one, and in May, Haley wore a white Communion dress, and received the sacrament alongside her mother, who had not taken Communion since she herself was diagnosed with the disease.
Link To Full Story (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/19/communion.denied.ap/index.html)
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 8-19-04 @ 9:28 PM
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Long Story Short: A Church refuses to Recognize an Eight Year Old Sick Girls Holy Communion, because she Cant eat Wheat [Gluten], and the Church says if the Communion Wafer doesnt have Wheat, Its Not Valid.
=
From CNN
BRIELLE, New Jersey (AP) -- An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine.
Church doctrine holds that Communion wafers, like the bread served at the Last Supper, must have at least some unleavened wheat. Church leaders are reluctant to change anything about the sacrament.
"This is not an issue to be determined at the diocesan or parish level, but has already been decided for the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world by Vatican authority," Trenton Bishop John M. Smith said in a statement last week.
Haley, a shy, brown-haired tomboy who loves surfing and hates wearing dresses, realizes the consequences of taking a wheat wafer.
"I'm on a gluten-free diet because I can't have wheat. I could die," she said last week.
Last year, as the third grader approached Holy Communion age in this Jersey Shore town, her mother told officials at St. Denis Catholic Church in Manasquan that the girl could not have the standard host.
After the church's pastor refused to allow a substitute, a priest at a nearby parish volunteered to offer one, and in May, Haley wore a white Communion dress, and received the sacrament alongside her mother, who had not taken Communion since she herself was diagnosed with the disease.
Link To Full Story (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/19/communion.denied.ap/index.html)
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 8-19-04 @ 9:28 PM