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Communion hosts available for gluten-intolerant worshipers

Jan. 17 at 6:32 a.m.

Stuart Heyes receives a low-gluten Communion wafer from the Rev. Bob Clark during a service at St. Cletus Catholic Church in La Grange. (Corey R. Minkanic, for the Chicago, Chicago Tribune / January 18, 2012)

After Stuart Heyes was diagnosed with celiac disease last year, he learned that a gluten-free diet would prevent the pain he experienced after meals, which he described as “like the food is having a battle in your gut.”

But his diagnosis threatened to create a battle in his soul: The hosts used for Holy Communion at most churches are made with wheat, which contains gluten.

Now, however, when the 62-year-old Burr Ridge man and other gluten-intolerant parishioners step up for Communion at St. Cletus Catholic Church in La Grange, they can receive special hosts with very small amounts of gluten.