in per incidence of receiving communion. There is no way of knowing what long term exposure to this level of gluten could do to any given individual. The recommendation for the designation gluten-free in the U.S., Australia, and Canada is currently <0.001% gluten, whereas the European standard for gluten-free is <0.03% gluten. In Australia, some patients who do not respond to the standard European gluten free diet did respond to the lower gluten Australian gluten-free diet which suggests that there are some patients who require the stricter diet. But in patients without symptoms, there is no real way of knowing if long term exposure to low levels of gluten, as in receiving communion with a low gluten host, will cause damage.
Some celiac patients have reported getting ill from gluten by receiving communion from the priests chalice. I asked Dr. Kasarda what he thought about the safety of receiving Communion from the priests chalice vs. receiving the low gluten host. He agreed that taking communion from the priests chalice could conceivably result in a celiac receiving the same or even more gluten than the amount contained in these low-gluten hosts, although this would depend on a number of variables including how large the crumb was, how much was consumed ,and how long the fermentum was in the wine before it was consumed. Dr. Carol Semrad, from the University of Chicago agreed with Dr. Kasardas assessment that celiac patients should not receive communion from the priests chalice because of the possibly unacceptable level of gluten.
How a Catholic celiac chooses to receive communion depends then on a number of considerations. First, the safest form of receiving communion is for a Catholic celiac to receive the Precious Blood from a separate cup. The drawbacks to this form of receiving communion include the occasional mistake by the priest sometimes he may forget to use a separate cup or he may decide to pour some of the Precious Blood from his chalice into the separate cup (or into the other chalices designated for the community in those cases where communion is distributed under both species). Next there is the issue of sensitivity to gluten. Since nobody can really say how sensitive any particular celiac is means that this is a decision that will have to be reached between the patient and his or her doctor. Certainly receiving a portion of a normal host or receiving communion from the priests chalice represent an unnecessary risk to a celiacs health. The low-gluten host presents another alternative. It would be not quite as safe as receiving the Precious Blood alone but a plausible alternative if ones doctor agreed. Drawbacks to using the low-gluten host include the necessity of using a pyx for communion and relying on the priest to remember to distribute the pyx at the appropriate time. The long term health issues related to the consumption of the low-gluten host are not known. Catholic celiacs should consider using only a half or a quarter of the low-gluten host for communion in order to further reduce the gluten content. Parents considering using this host for their celiac childs communion might wish to consider the mixed message using this altar bread may send to the child, namely that some gluten is sometimes okay. Finally the Catholic hierarchy offers this alternative to celiac disease sufferers: making a spiritual communion. Spiritual communion is an asking of Our Blessed Lord to enter into ones heart since at that moment when one isnt able to receive Him Sacramentally. The Church says that the value of this practice is that the graces received may be as great as -- or greater than -- those received by some people in the actual Sacrament.