A Communicant With Celiac
Imagine a Catholic communicant with celiac disease.
The host is small. The ritual is familiar. The theology says Christ gives himself under the species of bread and wine.
The body says something else: gluten can injure the small intestine.
That is not a culture-war anecdote. It is a pastoral and medical problem created by the meeting of two real claims.
Catholic sacramental law requires bread made from wheat1.
Celiac disease is an immune disorder in which gluten exposure damages the small intestine.
NIDDK estimates that about 1 percent of people worldwide have it2.
The treatment is a strict gluten-free diet3.
The problem is not solved by saying “it is only a symbol.” Catholic doctrine says more than that. It is also not solved by saying “faith should ignore the body.” The tradition itself has always cared about matter, species, and reception.
Here the book’s long argument becomes concrete. Wheat’s sacred status can touch an immune system.
Related sections: Taubes And The Public Argument; Three Gluten Disorders.
Footnotes
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1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 924 §2. Primary legal source. ↩
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National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, “Definition and Facts for Celiac Disease,” accessed May 11, 2026. Primary medical-information source. ↩
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Rubio-Tapia et al., “ACG Clinical Guideline,” 59-76. Primary clinical-guideline source. ↩