The Body of Christ meets celiac disease

We celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi this past Sunday which is a special solemnity for our congregation.  We joined Pope Francis and the rest of the world in the world-wide Holy Hour which was 10am-11am our time.  As I sat in our chapel I was thrilled to know that millions of Catholics around the world were simultaneously joining in prayer before our Eucharistic Lord.  We had it easy here in Clyde...we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to be synchronized with the 5pm Rome time!

One special way our community contributes to the greater church is by producing

sisters at old bakers

the communion hosts that will be changed into the Body of Christ.  We have been doing this for over 100 years now.   The 'old-timers' in community fondly recall the old bakers we used to have that required one sister at a baking machine to produce the single sheets that would be cut into the round hosts.
If a sister was really good, she could handle 2 bakers at a time.   I've heard some claims to handling three!

pouring batter 

    
By 1992 we upgraded our altar bread equipment and switched to one large baker that contained 30 plates - the equivalent of 30 baking machines, as seen below and to the right.  This monster baker can churn out 1 baked sheet every 5 seconds or so and only  
requires one alert baker.

'new' baker

Needless to say, we were able to produce more breads in a shorter amount of time than previously.  

In recent years, celiac-sprue disease or gluten-intolerance has become an issue for many people.  Our community was the first altar bread producer to create a low-gluten bread that still satisfied the requirements that 'some' gluten be present to make it valid in the Catholic church but was a small enough amount that most celiac sufferers could take it.   

Sr. Jane spreading batter on
 waffle irons

I think it took about 10 years to come up with the right recipe.  This has been a labor intensive project as we have used basic breakfast waffle irons (with flat plates instead of ridges) for years until a recent generous gift of a modern baker from an anonymous religious community no longer using it.  The 'waffle-iron' breads were kind of crunchy and rough looking (but decent tasting). The  breads from our new baker are smooth and almost melt in your mouth.

This has been a blessing for us to do  as we receive letters or e-mails like this one just sent yesterday from a woman in Connecticut:

Dear sisters:
We just received a new box of your low-gluten hosts.  I just want to tell you that I am forever grateful for your efforts on the behalf of Catholics with celiac disease.  I never receive Communion without having you in prayer.  I have to admit that part of me is going to miss the funky handmade hosts, because it was such a tangible demonstration of your commitment to this small population.  

I was desperately sick when I was finally diagnosed with celiac disease in 2000.  I was literally dying of starvation--90 pounds at 5'8".  But I accepted the gluten-free diet with bitterness until you produced your low-gluten host.  THAT the was one thing that changed everything.  After that, I could accept everything else.  Thank you for everything you have done for us, the celiac Catholic community...

It's hard for me to imagine what it would have been like to have celiac disease and NOT be able to receive the Bread of LIfe before our community was able to produce low-gluten breads.   But we get new e-mails like the one above several times a week so all the years of failed experiments were worth it to our sisters.  

Truly we ARE all ONE body in Christ.