The church of England has ruled that non-alcoholic wine and gluten-free bread cannot be used in holy communion services after priests had put an end to 'injustice'.
Church laws state that bread should be made with wheat flour and wine must be the fermented juice of a grape to be initiated by a priest.
But for a meeting of the prevailing body of the church, the General Synod, today a priest asked to change the rules to end the 'injustice' for people who cannot drink alcohol or eat gluten.
Synod -member Revd Canon Alice Kemp asked if canon laws can be changed 'to enable the legal use of gluten -free and non -alcoholic elements in the Eucharist to remove the injustice from this exclusion'.
Revd Kemp added that priests and congregants can be prohibited from receiving both elements [bread and wine] If they are unable to consume both gluten and alcohol '.
Michael Ipgrave, the bishop of Lichfield and chairman of the Liturgical Commission of the Church, said that this would destroy two established positions of the COFE.
'First, it is bread made with wheat and the fermented juice of the grape the elements that are initiated into the Holy Community; And secondly, it is not to receive holy communion in one species in a case of necessity not 'exclusion' but complete participation in the sacrament, as is often practiced in the community of the sick, or with children, “said Bishop Ipgrave.
Gluten-free bread and non-alcoholic wine should not be used for holy communion services, the Church of England has ruled
Synod -member Revd Canon Alice Kemp (photo) Soon whether canon laws can be changed 'to enable the legal use of gluten and non -alcoholic elements in the Eucharist
He added that even Christians who cannot physically receive the sacrament of the Holy Community must be assured that they are part by faith of the body and the blood of Christ.
Holy Communion is one of the central sacraments of the Christian faith, with the bread and wine that symbolizes the body and blood of Christ.
Canon B 17 of the COFE states that communion line must be 'the fermented juice of the grape, good and healthy' and the bread 'whether it has dropped or unchanged will be of the best and purest wheat flour'.
The church has previously granted certain types of communion apert allowed with the help of specially processed wheat that significantly reduces the amount of gluten, but other gluten-free alternatives made of non-tarwen flour are not permitted.
Members of the Synod in Church House in Central London. The Liturgical Commission of the Church has ruled that allowing the adjusted elements would destroy two fixed positions of the COFE
The Church of England has previously granted certain types of communion apert to considerably processed wheat that significantly reduces the amount of gluten, but has not approved other gluten-free alternatives of non-tarwemeel (file photo)
The Catholic Church does not allow gluten -free bread to be used during mass, in which the Vatican mentions in a letter from 2017 to bishops that “hosts who are completely gluten -free are invalid for the celebration of the Eucharist.”
According to Vatican, wine that is 'of questionable authenticity or origin' is forbidden, but it has approved the use of Mustum, a non-alcoholic grape juice for congregants and 'priests suffering from alcoholism'.
