c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A New Jersey woman whose 9-year-old daughter is allergic to wheat, which is used in Communion wafers, has failed to persuade her Roman Catholic bishop to let the girl use a non-wheat substitute for the church sacrament.

In an hourlong meeting Tuesday (May 17) with Trenton Bishop John Smith at the diocese headquarters, the bishop told Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman of Brielle, N.J. that because of Vatican rules his decision from last summer to not allow the rice substitute would stand.

He also declined her request to intercede on her behalf with church authorities at the Vatican.

Pelly-Waldman’s daughter Haley suffers from celiac-sprue disease, which prevents her from digesting any gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, but not in rice. Gluten consumed by celiac sufferers can damage the lining of the small intestine.

Last year, church authorities would not validate Haley’s first Holy Communion, an important rite for Catholic children, because she received a special rice wafer instead of a wheat wafer.

“It’s frustrating, to say the least,” Pelly-Waldman said after the meeting. “I said to the bishop, `What would Jesus do? Jesus would not deprive a child. I believe Jesus would have accommodated her.’ … (The bishop) said, `It’s a matter of what he did do, not what he would do.”’

Catholicism teaches that at the Last Supper Jesus transformed bread and wine into his own body and blood. Catholics believe that priests can repeat this process and turn bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood, and that the bread consecrated by Jesus contained unleavened wheat.

Steve Emery, a spokesman for Smith, said the bishop is not in a position to change the rule, which already has been examined by the Vatican in recent years.

He said Haley has three options for Communion: using a low-gluten wafer; drinking or touching her mouth to consecrated wine; or drinking mustum, a liquid made from partially fermented grapes.

Pelly-Waldman has rejected those options as insensitive, saying even a small amount of gluten might harm her daughter, and she does not want her daughter to consume alcohol.

She said she will keep trying to persuade church authorities to change their minds. Two letters to Rome have gone unanswered, she said, but she plans to write again.

She also said she and her daughter will remain Catholic.

“Regardless of church doctrine, I personally maintain complete and absolute faith in the Holy Spirit, and neither my or my daughter’s personal relationship will be affected. … We’re going to remain Catholic and continue to maintain the personal relationship we have with Christ.”

Some priests have privately offered to accept a non-gluten host, but she has declined, she said.

“We shouldn’t have to sneak our bread. Our bread is just as valid as any other bread. I don’t feel (sneaking) is the right message to send to Haley.”

Haley was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, but her mother gave the bishop a card, written by Haley, thanking the bishop for meeting with them.

MO/PH END RNS

(Jeff Diamant covers religion at the Star Ledger in Newark, N.J.)