Making Religion Green: Quebec Catholic Churches to Use Local Wine for Mass

Don't know whether it's due to climate change or to astute winegrape growing, but vinyards in Quebec have begun producing some not-too-terrible wines. The latest recognition of this comes from the Roman Catholic church which has just announced it will begin to encourage the use of locally grown wines for Mass, replacing a wine from California vinyards.

The sweet wine with an acohol content of 16.5 per cent is currently available from the vinyard, Domaine des Côtes d'Ardoise, in Quebec's Eastern Townships. According to a story in The Gazette: Canon law requires that , communion wine must be made of grapes - not strawberries, pears or other fruits - and cannot be fortified with additional alcohol or sugar.

The idea, according to Church spokesmen, is to encourage green initatives by favouring locally grown products. Talks are also underway to have Communion wafers made from Quebec-grown wheat and baked by a religous order in a rural area.

Will God know the difference? Who knows, but maybe Gaia will.