From Dom Mark Kirby's blog, Vultus Christi:
Our local Church Goods store is supplying Catholic parishes with gluten free "Communion Wafers" made by Ener-G Foods Inc. Here are the ingredients:
Filtered Water, Sweet Rice Flour, Potato Flour, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Potato Starch, Methylcellulose, Sunflower Lecithin.One can no more confect the Body of Christ using such "wafers" than one can use cider or orange juice for the confection of the Precious Blood. It is appalling that this product has found its way into the sacristies of Catholic churches across the country.
Canon Law is explicit:
Can. 924 §1. The most holy eucharistic sacrifice must be offered with bread and with wine in which a little water must be mixed. §2. The bread must be only wheat and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling. §3. The wine must be natural from the fruit of the vine and not spoiled.Catholics with celiac disease, receiving such "wafers" are not receiving the Body of Christ. The consecration of such wafers is invalid, and the use of them is a grave abuse, given that it concerns the matter of the Sacrament.
We were going to call them "Pringles-wafers", but, after taking a look at this ingredient list (which includes "Wheat starch"), it is clear that Pringles has more wheat than the non-wheat wafers being sold by a Catholic supplier to Catholic parishes (no, we are not saying that this snack food item is, or is not, valid matter). There is only one good side to this: no worries about all that handling of Consecrated particles in New Masses. When extremely serious matters are treated lightly, things ultimately reach their logical end, right?
