While the Roman Catholic world digests a Vatican letter confirming the church’s prohi-bition on gluten-free wafers, Protestant churches continue to place orders for a Eucharist that won’t bother the gluten-intolerant. Gluten or no gluten — the difference is theological. Protes-tant churches generally do not subscribe to the doctrine of transubstantiation, which holds that during the Communion service, the bread and wine turn into the actual body and blood of Jesus.

The Catholic Church, which affirms transubstantiation, wants to hew as closely as possible to the elements of the first-ever Communion — the bread and wine that Christians believe Jesus ate and drank during the Last Supper.

But Protestants consider Communion a symbolic act, and generally give themselves more leeway on the elements.

Wine can be grape juice. Bread does not necessarily have to be made out of wheat.

The Vatican letter released on July 8 reaffirmed that Communion wafers must contain at least some gluten. But the rule is not new, just a restating of an earlier teaching.

“ … bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament,” the letter reads.

And it makes clear: “Hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.”

Low-gluten wafers, however, are deemed acceptable by the church.

Those who suffer from celiac disease — about 1 in 100 people worldwide, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation — must stay away from gluten to avoid painful symptoms and serious health consequences.

He may be at the helm of one of the most dynamic Roman Catholic parishes in Florida, with the 3,000 families present each weekend at one of the seven masses at Saint Peter’s Church in Deland, but Father Thomas Connery is still worried.

“We have many retirees in Florida, so the churches are full but take them away and it’s a catastrophe,” says Father Connery. “We’re not managing to reach the young generations.”

“For every person baptized, the American church loses six Catholics,” he laments. “We don’t dare talk about it among priests, doubtless because we do not know what to do, but it is past time to break this taboo.

“Imagine a company facing such a problem. It would immediately launch an emergency plan! What about us?”

U.S. bishops do not yet have an emergency plan, but they have organized a unique gathering. For the first time in a hundred years, priests, laymen, monks, nuns and other heads of services and movements from all over the United States have come together at a meeting in Orlando, Florida from 1 to 4 July.

Their purpose is to reflect on how to be the best “missionary disciples,” in the words of Pope Francis in his Evangelii Gaudium.

Catholics represent the largest denomin-ation in the United States, with 77.4 million believers (22% of the total population), but fewer people have actually been attending church. The number of people taking the sacraments, except baptism, is also dropping.

From 2013 to 2016, the number of children who had their first communion decreased by 50,000 or 7%. Catholic schools registered a loss of 250,000 students over the same period.

If the Roman Catholic Church is losing ground in the United States, this also has to do with the rampant secularization of U.S. society in general. Americans who define themselves as not belonging to any religion, the “nones,” make up close to 25% of the population, up from 6% in 1991.

The former Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Joaquín Navarro-Valls,  on  5 July 2017, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old. Navarro trained as a medical doctor with a specialization in psychiatry, as well as in journalism, moving to Rome in the early 1970’s, becoming a foreign correspondent and eventually being elected president of the foreign press association in the city.

Its members gather to comfort and encourage one another. They check in on the sick and struggling. They wish each other a happy birthday. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in Chicago at the first Facebook Communities Summit that the two are similar in the way they create community and bring people together.

“As I’ve travelled around and learned about different places, one theme is clear: Every great community has great leaders,” he said. “Think about it. A church doesn’t just come together. It has a pastor who cares for the well-being of their congregation, makes sure they have food and shelter. A Little League team has a coach who motivates the kids and helps them hit better. Leaders set the culture, inspire us, give us a safety net and look out for us.”