Remsen students see hosts made in prep for first Communion

By KARA KOCZUR, Globe staff reporter
May 8, 2008

It doesn't look or taste like the bread kids eat in their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but before they are consecrated, communion hosts are bread just the same.

To help reiterate that fact and prepare for their April 6 first Communions, the second grade students at St. Catherine - St. Mary Grade School in Remsen, and those part of the religious education program at St. Mary's Parish in Remsen, spent an afternoon in the Remsen St. Mary high school cafeteria, where three ladies showed them how communion hosts are made.

"It was more or less to see that it is bread, but that it's made differently," said Betty Benson, second grade teacher at St. Catherine - St. Mary. "We talked a lot about [how] it's unleavened, it doesn't rise."

Audrey Delperdang, 75, was one of the ladies who demonstrated how the hosts are made. Delperdang learned how they were made from other ladies of the parish years ago.

"We used to make them for the whole parish years ago," Delperdang said. "The bakers that were used don't work as well anymore, so we discontinued making them for the parish and started buying our hosts."

When hosts were still made for the parish, Delperdang said ladies got together about once a month and would make 12,000 to 14,000 hosts at a time. They stopped doing the process about five to 10 years ago, she said, and now a few of them just do demonstrations for area first Communion classes.

The recipe Delperdang uses for the hosts is wheat flour, white flour and water, which follows the rubrics of the church. Canon Law states that bread used for communion must be made of wheat and water, nothing more, and it must be unleavened.

The batter is then poured on bakers, which look like flat waffle irons, she said. The bakers have different religious designs that make imprints in the bread.

"You put the batter on [the bakers] and then they are pressed out and then the design goes on that little sheet," Delperdang said. "Then you press out the hosts individually with little cutters."

One of the students' favorite part, Delperdang said she believes, is watching the steam rise from the bakers when the batter is poured on.

Students were also able to lend their hands and be involved in the process.

"The kids got to punch [the hosts] out and I think most of the kids liked punching them out," Benson said.

While the hosts were not used in their actual first Communions, students were still able to taste them and use them for practice.

Benson's class also had the opportunity to take a field trip to see how leavened bread was made, to help them further understand the difference between communion bread and every day bread.

"It was exciting because I've never seen bread made before," said second grader Ken Bohnenkamp.

Benson noted that she was surprised at how many of her students had never seen bread made before.

"I learned that the yeast made the bread rise," said Adam Gerrietts, another second grader.

Brett Gallas, another of Benson's students, agreed.

"There isn't any yeast in the host, so that's why they didn't rise," he said.

When it comes to making the hosts, Delperdang said her favorite part is just watching the kids.

"I enjoy watching their expressions and the questions they come up with," she said. "It's amazing what they come up with once in awhile."

Having a tangible experience, such as seeing how hosts are made, Dalperdang said, helps students learn.

"I just think when you see something it gets engrained in your mind more," she said. "You can tell them about it and read about it, but it doesn't mean as much as when you see it."