Wafering over gluten-free host

Blenheim Anglicans are saying amen to gluten-free wafers during communion, but the idea has left a bad taste with one Christmas churchgoer.

Waihopai Valley man Patrick Rattray went to communion at the Nativity Church on Alfred St on Christmas morning and was surprised to be given the option of a gluten-free wafer and non-alcoholic grape juice.

He only went to church at Christmas and Easter and said the idea of having the options were too politically correct.

Mr Rattray wrote a letter to the editor asking if he should "go over to Rome, or am I already too late?"

"It's just a sadness that all these things are taken so seriously. We don't laugh at ourselves any more," he told the Express.

He opted for the more traditional wafer and wine.

Nativity Church's Rev Derek Harding, who is gluten intolerant, said the gluten-free wafers had been offered since at least 2004. Other Anglican churches in Marlborough also offered the choice and non-alcoholic grape juice as an alternative to wine.

The church in Spring Creek and the Nativity Church both had at least two people each communion who chose gluten-free, he said. To read more, click here.