[extropy-chat] the extropy list isn't actually dead

[Brian Lee]

Since the wafer is transformed into Christ's body or whatever, it's no 
longer wheat and should not affect the girl's allergies.

BAL

>From: "scerir" <scerir at libero.it>
>To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
>Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] the extropy list isn't actually dead
>Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 20:07:49 +0200
>
>"May you live in interesting times"
>          (Chinese curse)
>
>----------------------------------------
>
>'Church says girl's communion not valid'
>
>Thursday, August 19, 2004
>
>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.
>
>Now, Haley Waldman's mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the
>Vatican to make an exception, saying the girl's condition should not 
>exclude
>her from the sacrament, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ
>before his crucifixion. The mother believes a rice Communion wafer would
>suffice.
>
>"It's just not a viable option. How does it corrupt the tradition of the
>Last Supper? It's just rice versus wheat," said Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman.
>
>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 was diagnosed with celiac sprue disease when she was 5. The disorder
>occurs in people with a genetic intolerance of gluten, a food protein
>contained in wheat and other grains.
>
>When consumed by celiac sufferers, gluten damages the lining of the small
>intestine, blocking nutrient absorption and leading to vitamin 
>deficiencies,
>bone-thinning and sometimes gastrointestinal cancer.
>
>The diocese has told Haley's mother that the girl can receive a low-gluten
>wafer, or just drink wine at Communion, but that anything without gluten
>does not qualify. Pelly-Waldman rejected the offer, saying her child could
>be harmed by even a small amount of the substance.
>
>Haley's Communion controversy isn't the first. In 2001, the family of a
>5-year-old Massachusetts girl with the disease left the Catholic church
>after being denied permission to use a rice wafer.
>
>Some Catholic churches allow no-gluten hosts, while others do not, said
>Elaine Monarch, executive director of the Celiac Disease Foundation, a
>California-based support group for sufferers.
>
>"It is an undue hardship on a person who wants to practice their religion
>and needs to compromise their health to do so," Monarch said.
>
>The church has similar rules for Communion wine. For alcoholics, the church
>allows a substitute for wine under some circumstances, however the drink
>must still be fermented from grapes and contain some alcohol. Grape juice 
>is
>not a valid substitute.
>
>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.
>
>Last month, the diocese told the priest that the church would not validate
>Haley's sacrament because of the substitute wafer.
>
>"I struggled with telling her that the sacrament did not happen," said
>Pelly-Waldman. "She lives in a world of rules. She says 'Mommy, do we want
>to break a rule? Are we breaking a rule?"'
>
>Pelly-Waldman is seeking help from the Pope and has written to Cardinal
>Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
>in Rome, challenging the church's policy.
>
>"This is a church rule, not God's will, and it can easily be adjusted to
>meet the needs of the people, while staying true to the traditions of our
>faith," Pelly-Waldman wrote in the letter.
>
>Pelly-Waldman -- who is still attending Mass every Sunday with her four
>children -- said she is not out to bash the church, just to change the
>policy that affects her daughter.
>
>"I'm hopeful. Do I think it will be a long road to change? Yes. But I'm
>raising an awareness and I'm taking it one step at a time," she said.
>
>
>
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