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Ladies & Gentlemen,

I must have perhaps the most enlightened, and the most compassionate Pastor
in the whole Catholic Church.  In Staten Island, New York, to where I just
moved, the Pastor at my new church was already well aware of Celiac Disease
when I first introduced myself.  He had already figured it out for me and
the rest of us.  He had gotten special permission from the Archdiocese to
allow Celiacs and other wheat intolerant people to take part in the wine
without having taken part in the host.  He is careful to keep one Challis
GF, that is, he does not put a host in one of his wine Challises, at all
Masses.  He offers that should a Celiac come up for Communion.

On Christmas Day, I was still very new to the church.  In the very few weeks
prior, I had just watched the Challises and kept track of the one for me, or
if there was no wine offered, I just didn't go (I didn't yet know I could go
to a special place to signal to him and receive a GF communion at any Mass).
He did not offer wine at that Christmas Mass, so I did not go up.  He had
seen me in the pews well before the Communion, and he had saved wine for me,
even though it was not going to be part of the general Communion.  He also
noted I did not come down.  After Communion was over for everyone else, he
prepared a special Communion just for me with the host free wine he had
saved, and he gestured for me to come up.  After I returned to my pew,  he
then told the whole congregation, on Christmas Day mind you, why he did that
and what is Celiac Disease.  He then said anyone who cannot partake of
wheat, simply come to the left side of the Altar during Communion, and he
will offer wine without the host at any Mass.  That's what I do now, along
with one other Celiac in the church that I know of.

I was just overcome with gratitude that Christmas Day.  It had been over
five years since I had received Communion before I met this Pastor, and it
made this Christmas very special.  I had been told before by Priests to just
do it because it's "only a little", and that "Jesus used wheat".  The best
answer prior to this was just don't go, He knows why.  I am so fortunate to
have stumbled into this man's parish, he completely turned around my opinion
of the Church and my experience at Mass.

I imagine there are some who don't think this is the right answer, because I
still do not get to partake of the Body of Christ.  For me, it is more
fulfilling and spiritual than Communion ever was before I knew I was a
Celiac, so it is the right answer for me.  I encourage you all to challenge
your Parish and your Archdiocese to follow the lead of the Archdiocese of
New York if you think this is the right answer for you, too.

John E. Cameron
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Staten Island, New York