Haley Waldman is an 8 year old who has celiac sprue disorder, a genetically caused intolerance for gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat and some other grains.

When Haley went to make her First Communion, her mother asked the parish priest to substitute a rice wafer because of Haley's condition. He refused, but a priest at another parish made the substitution, and Haley had her First Communion—or so she thought.

Last month, the diocese told the priest that the church would not validate Haley’s sacrament because of the substitute wafer.

“I struggled with telling her that the sacrament did not happen,” said Pelly-Waldman [her mother]. “She lives in a world of rules. She says ‘Mommy, do we want to break a rule? Are we breaking a rule?”’

Haley's mother is appealing to the Pope through Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I would have advised her to try another route.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is a name change for what was once called the Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition. It is still Cardinal Ratzinger's duty to stamp out heresy wherever he may find it. And need I add that Cardinal Ratzinger is very, very conservative?

The Body of Jesus made of rice! Do they think He was Chinese or something?