The Cola Consecration Conference Decries Ban on Cola use in Phoenix Diocese
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 22, 2011
Contact: empowered@cola-consecration.com
WASHINGTON, DC - August 22, 2011 - Cola soft drinks will no longer be allowed as an ingredient in consecration matter during Mass at the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, SS. Simon and Jude. In response, the Cola Consecration Conference has issued an action alert calling on the Diocese to immediately reinstate cola soft drinks in that parish.
"If young people in the Phoenix diocese want to grow up to work for the Church - or even aspire to the priesthood - I, and the vast majority of U.S. Catholics, don't see the harm in the use of such a popular drink," said Scarlett O'Tara, executive director of the Cola Consecration Conference. "Around the country, cola drinks have been lawfully served at the altar for well over a decade."
Reportedly, Rev. Reaction banned cola from the altar because he exclusively wants wine and a tiny bit of water to be used in this way. Since 1994, the Vatican and the U.S. Bishops have allowed the use of some cola drinks at the altar. There is no restriction in Canon Law for some cola to be used at the altar during the liturgy.
"This is not only disgraceful, it is impractical. Cola soft drinks are less expensive, more popular, and comprise at least 80 per cent of bottled drinks, and they are the backbone of the non-alcoholic beverage industry around the world," continued O'Tara.
"The Vatican's stance on the consecration of cola is based on arguments that have been refuted time and again. In 1976, the Vatican's own Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit the use of cola in consecration. Jesus included water, sugar, corn, natural flavorings, and carbon dioxide as full and equal natural products of Creation, as much as grapes, and the hierarchy would do well to follow suit," O'Tara concluded.
[Serious update: not real - completely based on this, with the change of only a few words.]
