Ahead of the meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England in London, a request was put in to make the communion (Eucharist) more inclusive. However, the Church is sticking to its rituals.
It is Reverend Canon Alice Kemp who put forward the request of making the Eucharist more accessible to those who are struggling with dietary restrictions. “Can consideration be given to enable the legal use of gluten-free and alcohol-free elements at the Eucharist to remove the injustice of this exclusion?”, she asked on the eve of the meeting, explaining that “Both priests and congregants who are unable to consume gluten and/or alcohol are forced to receive in one kind only (ie bread or wine) or may be prohibited from receiving both elements if they are unable to consume both gluten and alcohol.”
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As the Church considers the consecrated bread and wine only represent the body and blood of Christ without having physically become so – contrary to the Catholics – this request could have been considered to be acceptable. Especially since 1 in 100 people in the UK are suffering from Coeliac disease (an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten), according to Coeliac UK, and many more aren’t drinking alcohol.
However, the Church of England’s Canon B 17 writes: “The bread, whether leavened or unleavened, shall be of the best and purest wheat flour that conveniently may be gotten, and the wine the fermented juice of the grape, good and wholesome.”
Therefore, the General Synod decided not to accept alcohol-free wine nor gluten-free bread. “Putting aside the specification of the fruit to be used, the addition of the word ‘fermented’ must also have been included for good reason. Fermentation is the process by which alcohol is created and therefore the Canon requires that the grape juice be turned into alcohol. By the removal of all such alcohol the required results of that fermentation are nullified and the resultant beverage then not only ceases to be ‘wine’ as commonly understood but also ceases to be ‘the fermented juice of the grape’”, states the legal advisory to the General Synod.
The Synod also stipulated that partaking in the Eucharist doesn’t necessarily involve ingesting the bread and wine. “Receiving holy communion in one kind in a case of necessity is not an ‘exclusion’ but full participation in the sacrament, as often practised in the communion of the sick, or with children. Indeed, even believers who cannot physically receive the sacrament are to be assured that they are partakers by faith of the body and blood of Christ, and of the benefits he conveys to us by them”, said chairman of the Liturgical Commission and Bishop of Lichfield Michael Ipgrave.
In response to the media attention the story has been getting, the Church of England released a clarification on 10 February, saying “No, we’re not banning ‘gluten-free’ bread or ‘non-alcoholic’ Communion wine.” The press release mentions that many churches across the country offer “wine or bread which may contain tiny traces of alcohol or gluten which can legitimately be considered non-alcoholic or gluten free”, with the low-gluten hosts offered at some churches being confirmed by Coeliac UK as “within the levels for labelling gluten free”.
