[PappaJerry]

How do Roman Catholic recovering alcoholics take communion (wine) without triggering a relapse?

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Name : PappaJerry, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 66, City : Tampa, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[ACC24017]

I grew up Catholic and never saw a parishioner drink the wine at mass. Usually only the priests drink it. So that problem would only affect priests. But Catholic priests do have the highest alcoholism of any profession. Maybe having wine around all the time helps make that so.

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Name : ACC24017, Religion : Traditional American Indian, City : w lafayette, State : IN Country : United States, 

[CP19352]

It is not necessary to take both the bread (wafer) and the wine, as the Catholic Church teaches that the body and blood of Christ are present in both the elements. The wine is optional. According to a seminarian I know, for alcoholic priests there is a special sort of wine called mustum (I think that's what it's called...), which is not actually wine but has the potential to be wine.

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Name : CP19352, Gender : F, Age : 21, City : Montreal, Quebec, State : NA Country : Canada, 

[Dan]

As far as I know, only the priest partakes of the wine and not the congregation, but I am altogether unfamiliar with the methods of Catholicism. However, I responded to your post because it made me recall something very interesting. Back in the 1850s, a Protestant pastor saw that some of the members of his congregation had this problem. They were recovering alcoholics, and one sip of wine would have caused a relapse. He thought that if only he could make wine that was not fermented, then the problem would be solved. The trouble was that back then when juice was derived from grapes, there was no way of keeping it from fermenting. So he put together a contraption that would process the juice but keep it from fermenting, and so grape juice was invented. The pastor's last name? Welch.

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Name : Dan, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : na, Race : Chicano, Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : Los Angeles area, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Shawn]

In both Catholic and Episcopalian/Anglican churches, the Body (unleavened bread) and the Blood (wine) are served to the entire congregation symbolic of the Last Supper. One way a recovering alcoholic could participate in Communion would be similar to the way people with colds receive it: Have the Priest dip the wafer in the wine.

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Name : Shawn, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 24, City : Fort Worth, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Aviation/Military Police, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Jen30978]

Some Roman Catholic churches offer wine to the congregation, but not all churches do. In any case, taking the wine is optional. People may not want it for a variety of reasons: they don't drink, they are recovering alcoholics, they don't like sharing a cup with strangers.....

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Name : Jen30978, Gender : F, City : Somewhere in, State : WI Country : United States, 

[John-W29167]

It is actually not as rare as you would think for Catholic priests to become alcoholics. (Imagine if you had to drink wine every day.) Recovering priests who would normally need to drink wine as part of the mass are permitted to use grape juice instead. Members of the church, when receiving communion, may choose just to receive the bread to fulfill their obligation. The wine is optional.

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Name : John-W29167, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 33, City : Cleveland, State : OH Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Ed-M25545]

While practices may vary from diocese to diocese according to local custom, Catholics are not required to receive Communion under both species (bread and wine). Because Catholicism believes that Christ is present in flesh and blood, body and soul in the Communion host (the bread), they can fulfill their sacramental duties by reception of just the Host.

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Name : Ed-M25545, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 29, City : Goshen, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Content Developer, 

[Lisa22783]

I'd like an answer to that one too.

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Name : Lisa22783, City : Grand Rapids, State : MI Country : United States, 

[Jyota-S]

I'm a recovering alcoholic and was in a religious ceremony like this. The important thing is motivation. If you are motivated to take communion to taste wine because you want to taste or drink wine, that's a problem. If the motive is to purify the spirit under direction of a spiritual leader, and a taste of wine seems necessary, then I don't believe that is a relapse. Although that could trigger a craving, the person should listen to his or her conscience about this. There's a big difference between tasting wine to purify the soul and taking a shot to change feelings or thoughts.

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Name : Jyota-S, Gender : M, City : Delray Beach, State : FL Country : United States, 

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