Wampum

Dwight - I was raised as a Catholic and I can attest to the fact that the Catholic Church regularly acts in a technical, bureaucratic, insensitive, hurtful, and most unchristian manner. Frankly - they ceased giving a damn about Christ or his teachings almost from the get go. Power and control is what it’s all about. I hope this boy’s parents have the good sense to go to another church where they and their son will be welcomed. Unfortunately, most Catholics tend to just suffer in silence. Others, like me, walk away and never look back. It’s a shame - but there you are.

Wampum:

Grind up the bread, mix it with jello. I bet the kid can eat jello. Make the jello with wine and unflavored jello instead of grape flavored if you need to. It's still bread, even if it's suspended in jello and ground up real fine.

I think the problem's solved! I've asked for other work-arounds on my blog.

Has nobody here heard of the Precious Blood?!? Christ is wholely present in both species, so give whichever one won't cause difficulties for someone. That's what generally done for people that suffer from celiac sprue (no tolerance for gluten). Instead of bothering to learn what all the available options there are, people shoot their mouths of half-cocked and needlessly scandalize the Church. We have enough real scandals without people making up bogus ones, thank you very much.

it seems to me that the Church is acting in a technical, bureaucratic, insensitive, hurtful, and most unchristian manner.

Of course - that is what they always do.

I should have read the whole article before responding. The Precious Blood has already been tried and the kid spit it out. After reading the article, though, it doesn't seem to me that the Church is leaving this family high and dry. This strikes me as MSM trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

The only thing worse than organized religion is organized religion that likes to play Fictitious Concept Calvinball with children.

BTW, I have this overwhelming urge to support Chris Miller for Governor, even though I live some 593,000 miles from Maine. Is this normal?

Am not Catholic, but have worked in Catholic facilties as a social worker, and having the mildest possible form of Aspergers can relate--just a very very very little to how Matthew feels.

I realize that parishes are Roman Catholic, but there are so many other branches of Catholicism--Jesuits for one big example who are much more tolerant and giving

I have often wondered why people in parishes haven't split from the Roman Catholic church using other models of Catholicism.

But even when I mentioned this at my Jesuit grad school, or Franciscian nursing home would be answered with something akin to "are you crazy?"

I too believe that Jesus would be understanding, and G-d,if such a thing exists, couldn't and wouldn't be judgemental. But I don't pretend to understand much of life anymore.

Is Christ Miller for Governor a spammer or is this something you've programmed your blog to post?

If it's the former, I hope no one votes for him. If it's the latter, please let us know, because your promotion is backfiring.

If Matthew's fellow parishioners didn't know about this before, they do now, and I expect that Matthew will soon begin receiving the Eucharist again. We lay Catholics don't put up with that shit and we vote with our feet -- and our wallets.

At Last

This is not a new story. I've seen it before, specifically in connection with a young girl you could not digest wheat gluten and therefore could not take the communion wafer. Her parents raised heck, of course. In that case, there was never a satisfactory explanation given for why the girl could not have taken Communion via the Precious Blood.

Its a sad story, but there is another side to it, and if you're not Catholic you're not going to fully understand it.

The Catholic Church's beliefs about the Eucharist are different from those of Protestent Christians in many ways, not the least of them being that Catholic tradition and law dictate what form the Eucharist must take and, since the Church teaches that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ, the idea of mixing a communion wafer with some other substance to make it easier for a person in this situation to digest would simply be unacceptable.

Like I said, its a sad story, but I don't see any solution to it that wouldn't involve violating the tenants of the faith, which, speaking as a Catholic myself, is not acceptable.

"...the Catholic Church is acting in a manner inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus. That, at least to me, is a very big deal." - It's a shame to deny participation a boy of faith, but not surprising from the Catholic Church. Last I looked, I think that protecting men who sodomize children was inconsistent with Jesus' teachings too. Though raised Catholic, I no longer associate myself with such a corrupt, evil institution. In my family's case, the man who raped 5 boys and one girl in our church group was our Jesuit Priest, Father Jerry Lidner. When the children decided to fight back, the Jesuits hid Fr Jerry from the families until the statute of limitations passed. Real holy folk.

if you're not Catholic you're not going to fully understand it.

I beg to differ, and I defer to Jesus Christ for clarification:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-- mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
(Matthew 23:23)

...and...

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
(Luke 6:43)

This made me sad. I have an autistic child who has no problem ingesting a communion wafer, but a lot of difficulty really understanding what it is or why we take communion. She takes communion anyway, because she like and connects with the ritualized process. And we talk about Jesus sharing his bread and wine with his friends, and how this makes us friends of his too. Luckily, the Episcopal Church we attend is fine with that. They are willing to meet an autistic child where she is and support her in her complicated, slightly weird relationship with God.

The RC Church should do the same thing for this child. How sad that they can't see past their rules.

I long ago tired of defending the faith I was born into, and thus joined the swelling ranks of the "recovering Catholics."

Case in point: I'm fairly certain that, if one adhered to dogma, I'd be damned to hell for using the word "swelling" and "Catholic" in the same sentence.

What I'd like to know is why the bishop out in Phoenix allowed the boy to take Communion. Does the bishop in Pittsburgh know something he doesn't know about being Catholic?

What it appears here is that the Catholic Church approves certian exceptions, the bishop out in Phoenix let the boy take communion, and the bibishop in Pittsburgh disagrees with them. But he's the one who speaks for the Church?

I am a practicing Catholic. I believe that Jesus has an extra special love for children. Sometimes the church has too many rules often manmade. Since the horrible abuse has come out in the church, I have often thought about leaving the church. As horrified as I am about the abuse, I am even more outraged that the higher church figures did not protect the innocent children and allowed the abuse to continue. Hearing this story makes me so sad once again. What a beautiful way for the father to try and help his son partake in communion. I hope they find another church where the pastor's deep faith shows more compassion.