Sacramental Wine Is Just Franzia, According To TikTok
In some Christian denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, the doctrine of transubstantiation is seen as an everyday miracle wherein bread and wine are transformed into the essence of the body and blood of Christ via priestly prayer and ritual. It is not to be confused with the Miracle at Cana where Christ himself was on hand to turn water into wine. Churches, after all, need to start with actual wine as they lack the power to transform humble tap water.
Where do churches source this wine, though? Sacramental wine, it seems, does not need to be prepared under any special type of religious supervision. Even the Vatican only has the following stipulation: "The wine that is used in the most sacred celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice must be natural, from the fruit of the grape, pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances" apart from a little water added at the altar by the priest himself. These rules, as it turns out, don't preclude the use of most commercial wines not named Thunderbird or Boone's Farm. While there are certain vintners dedicated to producing wine meant specifically for sacramental purposes, many churches instead opt for some familiar name brands including Beringer, Oak Leaf, Corbett Canyon, and, yes, Franzia, as per one TikToker's "exposé."
What were they expecting, Château Lafite-Rothschild?
When an attorney named Reb posted a TikTok video wondering if churches need liquor licenses for communion, a self-proclaimed former altar server commented to say Franzia boxed wine was used during the sacrament at their church. Reb posted another video replying to the comment, saying "Imagine how Jesus feels about that ... he's like, sh**, that's my blood? ... no." While she expressed a preference for Napa cabernets, realistically that's not happening unless the bottles are dirt cheap. Churches, after all, may have to scrape together the fundsfor sacramental wine from what's left in the collection plate, so yes, they tend to go for budget boxed wines. Franzia is also not the worst boxed wine you can buy, for that matter.
@rebmasel Replying to @thelongstrangetrip if I wasn't a Napa cab it'd be over for y'all
Other former altar servers weighed in on the video, commenting that their churches served other inexpensive brands like Rossi, Kirkland, or even Mogen David (Jesus was Jewish, too). A few Protestants even noted that at their worship services, all they got was grape juice. While Jesus himself doesn't seem to have addressed the topic of acceptable wine brands, Rev. Lawrence W. Hehman, former rector at Lexington, Kentucky's Cathedral of Christ the King, holds a view diametrically opposed to that of the altar-server-turned-TikTok-commenter. As the now-retired clergyman once told The New York Times, pricey wines "would represent a sophisticated, snooty, wealthy approach to the table of the Lord, and that would not bring all of the people there." Amen to that, Father Hehman.