Gluten: MASS ALLERGY

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MASS ALLERGY

by NIALL DONALD, Sunday Mirror > Jul 16, 2006

IRISH mass-goers suffering from a dangerous food allergy are going

spiritually hungry... because they are allergic to communion wafers.

More than 40,000 people in Ireland have coeliac disease, and are

allergic to cereal-based foods.

But Irish coeliac groups said their members cannot stomach communion

wafers because they include gluten.

They want gluten-free com munion wafers to be avail able at all

Irish churches.

Coeliac sufferer King people said people with the

condition are often too embarrassed to ask the priest for wine

before mass starts.

She said coeliacs cannot drink the sacred wine because the priest

breaks a piece of host into it during the service.

She said: " Priests say to go around to the sacristy before mass and

ask for permission to receive the wine.

" But most coeliacs don't bother because of embarrassment and they

don't want to disturb the priest. "

Ms King said she sent a letter to All-Ireland Primate Dr Brady

asking for special hosts to be made available for coeliacs.

She said the Carmelites Order are the only Catholic order who cater

for coeliacs.

She claimed Church bosses could buy the gluten-free hosts for just 3

cents each.

The Carmelites make a separate chalice available on a side altar for

coeliacs.

She said: " In the Carmelite Church in Knocklyon Dublin, for example,

up to seven or eight people receive from this special chalice. "

Coeliac Society of Ireland spokesman Emma Conway said people with

the disease should carry their own gluten-free wafers. The special

hosts can be ordered from the Blessed Sacrament Fathers in Bachelors

Walk in Dublin.

She said: " I suggest that if people are travelling, that they should

bring the host with them, and ask the priest before the mass if he

will consecrate it for them during the mass. "

Coeliacs can have a violent reaction if they eat even a small amount

of gluten.

Common symptoms include diarrhoea, vomiting and weight loss and the

reaction can occur within just three minutes of eating the wrong

type of food.

Ms Conway said most coeliacs cannot digest food that contains

gluten. She added: " The food goes straight through your system, but

you get no nourishment from it. "