Plan B Forum

Archdiocese advises giving up Girl Scout cookies, and not just for Lent

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is encouraging Roman Catholics to scale back ties with the Girl Scouts, advising church members to think twice about membership and even about buying their cookies.

The warnings came in a letter from Archbishop Robert J. Carlson and in a statement on the archdiocese’s website about how the church is distancing itself from the Girl Scouts, which it says supports transgender rights, homosexuality and other stances at odds with Catholic values.

In the letter addressed to priests, followers, and scout leaders, Carlson announced two new measures. He instructed pastors to discuss alternatives for the Girl Scout troops that meet on parish property. He also disbanded the archdiocese’s Catholic Committee on Girl Scouts, which sponsored Catholic programs for the scouts, and formed a new entity called the Catholic Committee for Girls Formation that will include alternative youth leadership programs. About 515,000 Catholics live in the archdiocese, which includes the city of St. Louis and 10 surrounding counties.

“Girl Scouts is exhibiting a troubling pattern of behavior and it is clear to me that as they move in the ways of the world it is becoming increasingly incompatible with our Catholic values,” the archbishop wrote in the letter, dated Feb. 18.

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri chapter includes more than 43,000 girls in the St. Louis area. More than 4,000 of them are in troops based in Catholic schools and parishes, Bonnie Barczykowski, the chapter’s chief executive, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Barczykowski said the Girl Scouts organization valued its nearly 100-year history of cooperation with the archdiocese but added that the archdiocese’s concerns “misrepresent how Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri serves girls in our community.”

She said the chapter did not address issues of human sexuality or reproductive issues “as these matters are best discussed within the family.”

Fafhrd wrote:Catholics who are gluten-intolerant should avoid Communion, as the wafers must be made from wheat, n exceptions.

10/13/2010 - Until now Catholics with gluten-sensitivity have found it difficult to participate fully in Mass by consuming the communion wafers, which traditionally contain gluten.

To address that situation, the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Mo., have developed a Communion host that is extremely low in gluten – allowing Catholics with gluten sensitivity an alternative to taking only the cup during communion.

Low-gluten communion wafers mean that more Catholics with gluten-sensitivity will be able to consume both the body and the blood of the host, both the communion wafer and the wine, in their celebration of Mass.

Canon law and tradition require that communion wafers contain a percentage of wheat for a valid celebration of Eucharist, said Timothy Johnston, Director of Liturgy of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.

However, the host made by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration contains gelatinized wheat starch. The sisters report the hosts test to a level of 0.01 percent gluten. The Secretariat for the Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has stated that these hosts meet the requirements of the Code of Canon Law (924 §2) and may be used at the celebration of the Eucharist with permission of the person’s pastor.