Faith & Communion
Preparing for Confirmation with celiac disease
Planning Communion at a Confirmation Mass with your parish, family, and sponsor.
When Confirmation is celebrated within Mass, preparation should include any Communion arrangement the candidate needs. Discussing celiac disease with the parish coordinator early allows the candidate, sponsor, and ministers to know what will happen.
The rite of Confirmation involves the laying on of hands and anointing with sacred chrism. Receiving a host is not the act by which a person is confirmed. The Eucharistic arrangement can therefore be planned carefully without confusing it with the sacrament of Confirmation itself.
Begin with the parish coordinator
Provide the date of the celebration and describe the candidate’s usual Communion arrangement. Ask who will communicate it to the celebrant, sacristan, and ministers.
A Confirmation Mass may have different seating or ministers from a regular Sunday. Confirm where the candidate will approach, who will distribute Communion, and where to check in beforehand.
For a low-gluten host, the parish needs the appropriate product and a pyx to keep it apart from ordinary hosts. Review the product with the candidate’s clinician. For Communion under the species of wine alone, the candidate receives from the common cup. The USCCB’s guidance addresses both provisions.
Include the candidate
Explain the plan directly to the person being confirmed. A young person should know which minister to approach and what to do if the expected arrangement is missing. They should also know which adult can help.
Receiving under either species means receiving the whole Christ. This is useful catechesis for the entire preparation group, without identifying any candidate’s medical condition.
Offer opportunities to ask questions privately. The candidate need not explain celiac disease in front of the class or congregation.
The sponsor’s role
The sponsor can help the candidate remember the plan and reach the designated parish contact. Keep that assistance quiet and practical. The parish’s preparation should allow both sponsor and candidate to attend to the celebration.
If refreshments follow, make a separate arrangement for food. A Communion plan does not establish that the reception’s food or serving utensils are suitable.
On the day
Check in before Mass and follow the agreed procedure. If something has changed, ask the coordinator or priest for help. Do not press the candidate to receive from an unfamiliar host or chalice because the occasion is important.
The preparation for Confirmation is chiefly a preparation to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and live the faith. Careful attention to these details serves that purpose by making space for a recollected celebration.
Come, Holy Spirit. Strengthen those preparing for Confirmation, guide their sponsors and catechists, and help our parishes welcome them with faithful care. Amen.