LONDON DIARY: We Drink Only Alcoholic Wine In Church
Today, I want to look back at one item that struck me in the news last week. The Church of England ruled that non-alcoholic wine cannot be used in Holy Communion.
Yes, indeed, the long history of the Church of England and its sister, the Catholic Church, indicate the use of alcoholic wine – and bread – for Holy Communion during the celebration of Holy Mass in the church. The wine and bread symbolise the blood and body of Jesus the Christ.
However, in England, some people with new-fangled ideas have been contesting the use of alcoholic wine in church – and suggested that non-alcoholic wine should be used instead, especially for those who do not wish to drink alcohol at all, or to drink alcohol in church…
But the Church of England ruled decisively last week: That non-alcoholic wine cannot be consecrated for use for Holy Communion in church, despite the misgivings of some of the faithful.
I agree entirely with the Church of England – that only alcoholic wine should be served in church for Holy Communion. Any self-respecting Christian who wants to drink wine in church should go for the real thing, the very red wine, preferably a Merlot.
The Church of England’s elder sister, the Roman Catholic Church, is not doing very badly either in the consumption in church of red wine, the alcoholic variety, the real thing.
Due to space constraints, I will not be able to delve into esoteric areas like how wine is used in religious ceremonies, the role of wine in the Catholic church; the role of wine in the Bible, and why people drink wine in church, etc., etc.
But permit me to observe that it is on record that the tiny Vatican City, the seat of the Roman Catholic church, tops Wine Consumption Per Capita Statistics for the whole world. Simply put, the Vatican City, which has the status of a city-state, consumes more wine per person than any other country in the world.
The HUFFPOST reported in February 2014 that, according to the Wine Institute’s statistics, the Vatican consumed 74 litres of wine per person, around double the per-capita consumption of Italy as a whole, and several times more than any other country in the world.
Xtra Wine Blog also affirmed in April 2018 that “The Vatican Tops the List of Heaviest Wine Drinking Nations”. The blog wrote: “A recent study found that the average person in the Vatican drinks 74 litres of wine per year. That makes 74,000 litres for the entire country, based on a population of 1,000 people. The United States, on the other hand, achieves a per capita rate of 9.9 litres per person – in a country of 325 million people”.
With a population of less than 1,000 people (yes, one thousand people), the Vatican, the smallest sovereign nation on earth, is, indeed, drowning in wine…
A significant percentage of the wine consumption in the Vatican City is related to the consecrated communion wine used in celebrating Holy Mass in the Catholic Church.
I regard myself as a wine buff. So, anytime the topic of wine bubbles up, my hackles rise. As I wrote about 10 years ago, in my column then, History in a Hurry, in The AUTHORITY Newspaper of October 26, 2015: “ Red wine…is the only indulgence I permit myself – to help me forget a little the monumental chaos, wahala and jaga-jaga of a tragic but potentially great nation called Nigeria”.
When I am in a supermarket, which is a place you will find me very often, wherever I am in the world, I usually walk pass quickly when I reach the shelves marked: “non-alcoholic wines.” Then I head to the section that has the real thing: the alcoholic wines…
What is the purpose of drinking non-alcoholic wine?
Dr Onyemaobi is the Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nigerian Voice.