From the Toronto Star

Even God is going gluten-free.

Parishioners at a Sunday morning service at St. Paul’s Bloor St. Anglican Church were told they can now have the option of gluten-free wafers during communion, following the lead of other Anglican churches in Toronto, including St. Martin-in-the-Fields in High Park and The Church of the Redeemer on Bloor St. W.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has been making reduced-gluten communion wafers available during Holy Communion for several years for worshippers with celiac disease, wheat sensitivities or allergies.

Catholic canon law requires the use of small amounts of wheat flour for all hosts and Eucharistic bread, explains Neil MacCarthy, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Toronto, as it provides a spiritual link to the bread eaten by Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper.

According to the Canadian Celiac Association, about 1 per cent of Canadians have celiac disease, an immune response to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. It can damage the small intestine, interfere with absorption of nutrients and can cause anemia and chronic diarrhea, among other ailments. There is no cure. Gluten sensitivity, which isn’t an immune reaction, but causes unpleasant digestive symptoms, affects about of 6 per cent of Canadians.

Anglican priest Rev. Judith Alltree, whose email handle is “glutenfreepriest,” has such a severe wheat allergy, she carries her own gluten-free communion wafers. Any exposure to wheat, even a small amount, can cause severe headaches or even a throat-swelling allergic reaction.

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