Proving that nothing is too sacred for a lawsuit, a Minnesota supplier of “churchware” products has sued a former executive for trying to sell a knockoff of its proprietary system for the germ-free dispensing of communion wafers.

"Purity" host dispenser	"Communalabra" host dispenser

The unholy legal war erupted after Douglas Henricksen touted his “Communalabra” Germ-Free Communion Host Dispensing System in a Wisconsin newspaper. The product, he told the New Richmond News, is a safe way to celebrate communion for those worried that cold or flu germs may be spread when the host is passed from hand to hand.

“Everybody I’ve showed it to has loved the product and loved the idea behind it,” he said.

The article didn't mention that Henricksen used to work for Nu-Life Products of West St. Paul, Minn., which sells the Purity dispenser system for about $450. In a complaint filed Dec. 30, Nu-Life portrays him as a Judas who stole its trade secrets and proprietary technology to develop his own dispenser after leaving the company.

“Nu-Life Products developed these common [sic] host dispensers at great expense and effort, and has sole and exclusive rights of ownership, use, and development as to these products,” the suit says.

Henricksen formed his own Nu-Life Church Supplies in December 2007. He has yet to manufacture a dispenser but, according to Nu-Life Products, he has told prospective employees and investors that his products are “expected to generate nearly $2 billion in global sales in the first 5 years.”

Nu-Life Products is seeking at least $75,000 in damages and a court order enjoining Henricksen from soliciting investors, from marketing or promotion of dispensers that are similar to its technology, and from any contact with its vendors.

The dispenser technology involves punching out communion wafers one at a time from the bottom of a cylindrical device. Nu-Life Products –- which also sells a line of wine-soaked wafers -- says its dispensers deliver 400 communion hosts without having to be refilled.

Communion purists aren't happy with the concept. “How is the communicant supposed to believe in the Most Precious Body of Jesus when he or she doesn’t see it before that machine dispenses it?” asks one blogger from Germany. “To the communicant, the communion bread would be no more worth than just an ordinary chewing gum.”

But Nu-Life Products claims its dispensers “provide a germ-free, safe and sanitary method to dispense communion hosts in a unique manner that protects against airborne contaminants, reduces the risk of potential health problems, and significantly reduces the time and personnel needed to provide communion.”

Henricksen, a graduate of Indianhead Technical Institute in Superior, Wis., says he got the inspiration for a dispenser more than three years ago while attending a church service where the pastor had a cold and parishioners were all coughing and sneezing. “I thought, ‘This is a breeding ground for passing germs,’” he told the New Richmond News.

The H1N1 flu scare, he believes, has brought the issue of worship hygiene “to a head. I guess I’m in the right place at the right time.”

Nu-Life Products' allegations could stop Henricksen in his tracks, but he insists they are bogus. "There's no trade secret information,” Minnesota Public Radio quoted him as saying. “There's nothing, zero. They're doing this because they owe me a lot of money.”

By Matthew Heller
1/5/10