Wheat Wafers

The New York Times has a story on the continuing fight of a little girl who wants to take communion but is allergic to wheat. She has celiac disease, so it's not like she just doesn't want to eat wheat - she can't. Having had my own share of GI problems, even though none are remotely this bad, I can completely understand why her mother won't put her at risk with a low-gluten wafer.

The Church is resisting, saying a huge part of communion is that it must be a wheat wafer. One of the big issues I have with the Catholic Church is their refusal to go against anything traditional or to change with the times. (Keep in mind that I'm not Catholic, just grew up in a largely Italian (and Jewish) area, so that might color my opinion.) It's almost like they're practicing their own version of religious evolution; if you can't fit in with the requirements of Catholic rituals, you can't participate.

I must confess that I do see both sides here. The Catholic Church has rules, and (as much as I might disagree with the way they work) they're following them. Rules are rules. If you don't like them, you're free to leave the Church. Although maybe people shouldn't have to do that. It seems wrong to force someone out of their religion, an integral part of their lives, because of a medical condition that they didn't choose. Then again, isn't this the same story about gay rights
and the Church?

A really sad part of this is the story of her family though. The parents are getting divorced, and the kids are all sick. From the end of the story: "Haley has three brothers, all younger, who also have medical ailments. One has an enlarged liver, one has nodules on his voice box, and another is on a feeding tube." How does it happen that one family has 4 children, with this many ailments? Not that I would wish ailments on other families to spread it around, but that is one
huge burden. Poor kids.