THE Church of England’s stance on using gluten-free bread and non-alcoholic wine on the eucharist had been “misinterpreted”, the Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, said on Monday afternoon.
Over the weekend, there had been wide media coverage based on his written answer to an issue submitted prematurely of the General Synod’s meeting. The query had asked whether Canon B17 might be amended, to be able to formally permit using gluten-free bread and non-alcoholic wine within the eucharist.
Dr Ipgrave had answered that there was a “settled position” within the Church of England that “bread made with wheat and the fermented juice of the grape are the weather to be consecrated in Holy Communion.”
Media coverage had suggested that the Church prohibited using gluten-free bread and non-alcoholic wine.
On Monday afternoon, during a Synod questions session, Dr Ipgrave said that his answer, though correct, had been “misinterpreted”, particularly in media reports – something for which, he said, he took his share of responsibility.
“I realise now that I must have identified that, the truth is, many Church of England churches across the country do routinely offer what’s described as gluten-free bread or non-alcoholic wine at holy communion,” he said.
The confusion arose due to the undeniable fact that products with very small quantities of wheat or fermentation could still be classified as ‘gluten-free’ or ‘non-alcoholic’, he suggested, and apologised for not clarifying this.
Several ecclesiastical suppliers produced communion wafers with such a low level of wheat in them that they were considered gluten-free, and really useful by Coeliac UK, and there was no reason in canon law why these couldn’t be used, Dr Ipgrave said on Monday.
“I regret deeply that my written answer didn’t draw attention to the way in which through which the language of ‘gluten-free’ and ‘non-alcoholic’ is usually utilized in this example and will subsequently have been interpreted,” he said, and apologised for “any distress or confusion brought on by that lack of clarity”.
He also emphasised that the Church of England’s position was that communion in a single kind amounted to a full participation within the sacrament, and he expressed his hope that this may help pastorally in cases where someone was unable to receive either the bread or wine being offered.
In his written answer, Dr Ipgrave cited Notes to the Celebration of Holy Communion at Home or in Hospital, which says that “believers who cannot physically receive the sacrament are to be assured that they’re partakers by faith of the body and blood of Christ and of the advantages he conveys to us by them.”
