Father Peter Williams said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently issued a response to the question of what constitutes valid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.
The congregation determined that gluten-free flour — for example, that made from maize — did not fulfill the requirements for valid matter.
Father Williams said that following the ruling, the Catholic Church in Australia acted quickly to ensure that low-wheaten altar breads were available. Catholics were also able to take Communion by arranging with the priest to receive Communion from the chalice, he said.
«In order to address the pastoral needs of celiacs,» he added, «the NLC in collaboration with Ozanam Industries sought to find a wheat-flour that was low gluten and would satisfy the requirements of both the CDF and the standards established in Australia to identify a product as low gluten according to the relevant food standards.»
