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Thank you for all your responses about communion. I received over 65
responses!! About 1/2 said they brought their own gf host (rice cracker, low
gluten host, gf bread, gf cracker) and put it on the alter/ gave it to the
priest/pastor prior to the service.
1/3 said there was a separate plate with gf crackers/host on it. 7 said the
entire church's communion is gf (Energ tapioca loaf, bob's red mill mix,
ener-g crackers, rice crackers. 7 said they bring their own gf bread or cracker
from home & then keep it at the seat with them as the bread is passed out.
3 said they take the wine/blood only. 1 said he takes wheat communion
without any problems.
Here are some excerpts from the responses:
We belong to a Christian Refromed Church and they allow my husband to bring
in his own small piece of bread and keep it in his seeat with him, and then
instead of taking from the bread offering, he just gets his own out to take
during communion. This worked well, with no chances of contamination.
##################
We ordered gluten free communion wafers from Ener-G Foods (_www.ener-g.com_
(http://www.ener-g.com/) ) for our daughter. She is the only person in the
congregation that requires them and it frees us to have extras for traveling
and for her to take to college. She just brings her own with her and the
pastor says the blessing. We all decided this was easiest and avoids cross
contamination issues. At my aunt's church they order the g-f wafers and keep them
on hand. I believe the altar guild has been instructed on cross
contamination issues and the g-f wafers are in a small container on the paten with the
other wafers. People requiring the gf wafers help themselves to the wafers to
avoid the pastors contaminating them. I don't know what you would do if
Holy Communion was by intinction (dipping the wafer into the wine) or by common
cup. We have individual cups. At our Saturday evening service communion is
by intinction, but it is a very small service, everyone stands in a
semi-circle around the pastor and we just walk around to insure our daughter it the
first to commune, first to dip her gf wafer in before the wine in contaminated
by the wheat wafers. Don't know if it matters, but we are Lutheran
(Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) as is my aunt. Another ELCA Lutheran church
in town also offers g-f wafers and has a note in the worship bulletin saying
so
####################
I buy cracker bread (rice from Glutano thru GF Pantry in Glastonbury CT.
I cut a cracker into 1inch squares and keep them in a zip lock bag in the
glove compartment of my car.
I my church we have communion every sunday by intinction.
So I pull out of my shirt pocket a GF square and hold before the pastor who
holds the host. By prior
discussion he knows that I expect him to bless and consecrate the "body" and
then I go to the person
holding the "wine or grape juice" and they in turn consecrate the "Blood".
###################
When I go to a strange church, I have a discussion with the pastor before
the service and have never had
a problem except I make sure I have a small plastic "stamp envelope" to put
my cracker host in before it
is placed on the plate holding the bread or wafers so as not to contaminate
my host.
#####################
our entire church has gluten-free communion. I prepare it at home, using
Ener-g tapioca loaf. I slice it into longer, wider chunks for dipping into
juice for our morning services (this type of gf bread does not crumble, so it is
good for dipping), and then I create smaller cubes for our more formal
service. (I also use Gillian's Rolls for the "breaking of the bread" - my
minister likes to break bread as a part of the service as a symbol.) I make and
freeze about 2 1/2 months worth at a time. I label the outside of the freezer
bags with the date and type of service for which the bread will be used, and
the bags are stored in the church freezer. The deacons put it in the trays
once the day arrives. Because I am the only one who is gf in our church, I
feel that I should take the responsibility for preparing the communion for the
church (plus, I know that it won't have cross contamination if I prepare
it).
######################
There was actually an announcement made from the altar for anyone needing
gluten free host to go to a particular priest! This priest carried two plates,
with the gluten free host on the lower one. I appreciated that detail.
After the service she brought up there should be a way to go to communion
and not have to go to a particular priest. That parish wears nametags and her
idea at that moment was that perhaps there could be some symbol put on the
nametag.
#######################
I have tried several different things but in the end have found that
wrapping a small piece of GF rice cake in saran and placing it in the communion
plate before the service is the best thing for me. It remains uncomtaminated, is
blessed along with the wheat bread and available for me to take like
everyone else. The rice cake can even standup to being dunked if that is what
everyone else is doing....you just have to be first in line!
Here are some other things I have tried and didn't like:
1. The rice communion wafers, they are very crumbly..I can't wrap them
individually and then unwrap them without them falling apart.
2. Making my own bread for all to partake of gluten free communion. The GF
breads I have tried are too crumbly. We had too much bread (the Body of
Christ) on the floor.
#######################
I belong to a catholic church and they do provide a low gluten host for my
celiac children. They get if from the group of nuns in the mid-west who make
them. If you are catholic it is the only acceptable host that the church
will allow.
They have given us a small container called a pic (i'm not sure if that is
the right spelling). Then they have also given us a packet of unconsecrated
host to keep at home in our freezer. When we go to church we put the host in
the pic and then put it on the altar before mass and let the priest know. My
children then go onto the altar to receive it before the priest comes down
to distribute it to everyone else. They wait on the side of the altar and
the priest gives it to them when he is giving the host to the eucharistic
ministers (I don't know if you are catholic or not and if you understand at
what point they are receiving it). The church has put in the bulletin that
they offer a low gluten host in case other people need it. If more come
forward then perhaps they would have a separate line.
The priests do not touch the host because they understand about
contamination since they were just handling the regular host. The priest
this past weekend handed the pic to my daughter and she took it out herself
and ate it
####################
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC keeps a small tin on the
right altar with Blue Diamond Nutthins. An eight year, a 40 year old, a 60
year old and probably others that I do not know about signal the celebrant
and we partake of a blessed Host. It is truly the most amazing feeling. When
I visit other Episcopal Churches I cross my arms at the altar and receive a
blessing
####################
I keep the little zip lock bags that extra buttons come in and each
communion service we place a piece of rice cracker in one of the little bags and
place it in the communion plate. I sit in the front row so I get the plate first
and take the bag so I can participate with everyone else.
####################
Our church would do whatever we asked, but when we started going there they
already had a system in place for a man who is autistic and can't eat gluten.
They have a little pouch with indivitual slots that one of the parishoners
made to hold pieces of rice cake. They put this on the pastor's plate. It
would work just as well for gf bread or crackers or whatever.
###################
There is a host made by the Benedictine Sisters that is approved by the
Catholic Church and the Celiac Foundation. Our priest has ordered them. We are
buying a pix (unsure of the spelling) for his hosts that will be placed onthe
altar during the consecration. He will be the first to receive communion by
a Eucharistic minister who has not touched the other hosts yet or by the
priest who said he can wash his hands with the holy water prior to giving my son
communion. We will have to sit in the front.
#################
The rice bread we bring is a standard rice bread recipe made in our bread
machine. Usually we make it the night before so it's fresh. However,
sometimes we forget and so in the morning we make a thick pancake using rice
flour and just shave off the top and bottom and cut it into a rectangle so
it
looks like a slice of bread with no crust.
################
www.myglutenfreestore.com carries gf communion wafers.
#################
I've bought some rice crackers (sorta like wheat thins) that they break and
put inside a
cupcake cup in the basket with the wheat bread.
###################
We just bring a piece of GF bread with us and they set it aside from the
rest -- like in a little baggie, or you can put it in one of the
Sacrament/Communion cups, or whatever your church has to facilitate taking the
Communion/Sacrament with, and bless it with the rest, but they bring it to me... They know
who it belongs to and there is no problem..
###################
At our church, they ordered gluten-free communion wafers. I think the brand
is NOW (orange label). They
keep the wafers in the freezer and on communion Sunday my son goes to
freezer and gets one. The church has a little covered silver container that
we put the wafer in. When the pastor sees us come to the railing for
communion, he simply gets the wafer for my son.
###################
The pastor holds the GF plate while the elders pass the regular plates; it
is announced, and folks who need GF come forward to take it from the plate.
It's a presbyterian church, we don't usually come forward. The GF "bread" is
a rice cracker, I think Edward and Sons
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