As with other Christian denominations, one of the most important sacraments within the Church of England (C of E) is consuming consecrated wine and bread for the Holy Communion, aka Eucharist, aka the Blessed Sacrament (religion gets complicated fast). But what if a member of the C of E can’t drink wine and/or eat gluten? Does it still count?
Last week—amid wider conversations about non-alcoholic wine—that question once again came before C of E leaders.
Fun wine history fact: Churches and other houses of worship in the United States were exempt from the Volstead Act, which meant they could still serve alcoholic wine during Prohibition (for religious purposes, of course).
Shortly before clergy met at the 2025 General Synod at Church House in London, just around the corner from Westminster Abbey, the Rev. Canon Alice Kemp of Bristol put forward the question, “Can consideration be given to amending Canon B17 to enable the legal use of gluten-free and alcohol-free elements at the Eucharist to remove the injustice of this exclusion?”
Per a Synod questions paper, Dr. Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Lichfield and chair of the Liturgical Commission, responded that changing this bit of church law would go against the C of E position that the host (the bread or wafer) should be made from the “best and purest wheat flower that conveniently may be gotten.” There should be some wheat gluten, even the slightest amount; so no rice wafers or potato flour bread here. The wine must be “fermented juice of the grape, good and wholesome,” and it has to contain at least a smidge of alcohol.
Technically speaking, C of E parishioners can participate in communion by consuming just the bread or the wine (“communion under one kind”). They don’t need to consume both (“under both kinds”). And even if they consume neither, “They are partakers by faith of the body and blood of Christ and of the benefits he conveys to us by them,” said Ipgrave, quoting the Church’s Notes to the Celebration of Holy Communion at Home or in Hospital.
Well, that settles it then, right? Story over? We can all go have coffee and baked goods in the narthex? Not quite.
On Feb. 9, various media outlets began reporting that the C of E had fully refused to allow a NA-GF communion. But as the Synod got into full gear on Feb. 10, the Church of England released a statement clarifying that this wasn’t the exact meaning of Ipgrave’s answer: “The Church of England is not banning ‘gluten-free’ wafers nor ‘non-alcoholic’ wine at communion … Many professional ecclesiastical suppliers have long provided wine or bread which may contain tiny traces of alcohol or gluten which can legitimately be considered non-alcoholic or gluten-free.”
This statement directs readers to Coeliac UK’s guidance that while “’low gluten’ hosts” contain wheat starch, it is at levels low enough to be labeled gluten-free. According to the organization, these wafers are approved for parishioners with celiac disease.
“I regret deeply that my written answer did not draw attention to the way in which the language of ‘gluten-free’ and ‘non-alcoholic’ is commonly used in this situation and may therefore have been [mis]interpreted,” Ipgrave told The Church Times in a Feb. 10 article. “I should have pointed out that, in fact, many Church of England churches across the country do routinely offer what is described as gluten-free bread or non-alcoholic wine at Holy Communion.”
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