[Sca-cooks] celiac and church, was Okay, so this is vaguely food-related...

[Kirsten Houseknecht]

as far as the Catholic Church is concerned.....and many of the Protestant
churches....... i dunno about the others..

people who cannot tolerate wine or bread cannot be *priests* because it is
part of their duty to administer the sacrements, and to drink and eat at the
altar (you may have seen the priest drink whatever remains of the wine...)
**however***
those who only recieve the sacrements (parishioners, for example) may
receive only wine, may have grape juice instead of wine in SOME
denominations... may barely wet their lips , for example at the cup...
and do NOT need to accept the bread at all, as long as they partake of the
wine.

if i recall correctly..... communion in the Catholic Church may be
administered with only wine, if bread is lacking.
High Anglicans and Episcopals may use wine OR bread
and i think a lot of other groups, and low Episcopals, allow for any liquid
(even water) to be used if wine  is not available in an emergency.

also they may, in some groups (mostly Protestant) partake of only a small
fragment of the host <bread>
>>> Catholics, since they hold to the actual transubstantiation of the bread
into the flesh of Christ, cannot usually "break" the host into smaller
peices, as it would be disrespectful at the least.  Protestants usually
permit the host to be broken into small bits, as long as it is done
respectfully.

but this is all based on my memories of religious lessons and studies of
some time agop... and is likely outdated......
Kirsten Houseknecht
Fabric Dragon
kirsten at fabricdragon.com
www.fabricdragon.com
Philadelphia, PA     USA
Trims, Amber, Jet, Jewelry, and more...

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