Returning You To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

A month ago, we crawled out of our safe rooms into the daylight and started assessing the damage from Charley, a once-in-a-lifetime event (or so we thought). Now, we're finally out of the "cone of error" for Ivan's path, hoping it isn't Jeanne that makes for a threepeat season. Taking a breather, I realized today I have been sitting on a web link for almost a month, waiting for opportunity to comment.

The article, from CNN.com, is here. In short, this poor girl has been told that her first Catholic Holy Communion is invalid because the wafer did not have wheat. If she consumes any wheat products, she could be violently ill.

I'm far from Catholic, but this article infuriated me. The church of Rome continues to fall back to rehetoric and outdated tradition, even when fact contradicts elements that are far from elemental to the faith. It's Galileo all over again. I fail to see anything in the core tenets of belief that requries this girl to take the equivalent of a poison pill in order to experience this Sacrament.

Does her allergy make her ineligible for salvation? Or should she "just have faith" and partake? How is that different from those we criticize for relying on faith healing and never purusing professional medical attention?

I'm not against organized religion, by any means. But sometimes, the trappings get in the way of the reason for being organized. The gathering of the people is more important than the guidelines on the periphery. I can even see this in the church I choose to attend, where I sometimes find myself pondering if I'm letting myself choose a church that's gay-friendly over a church where I can actually worship, and why I place importance on one over the other at this point in life.

By the way: I should mention another blog I've just started following: We, Like Sheep. The author delves into the religious now and again, with far more eloquence than I.