Hi everyone! Does anyone here know what one needs to do to become a Eucharistic minister? Do they have to go to school for a certain amount of time, is it done by the diocese, the church, or what?
Thanks!
Stephen
It depends on the diocese, and it also depends on whether you want to serve during mass, or to take Holy Communion to the sick and shut-in; but generally speaking, there is a short period of coaching and/or on-the-job training, then you are on your own. Speak to your pastor.
In our Diocese this is a commission from the Bishop for a particular term, my latest commission was for three years. Our Pastor nominates interested persons, who must be Confirmed Catholics over 16 years of age who are themselves elligible to receive the Eucharist, who if married have their marriages recognized by the Church, who are active in the life of the Parish, and who have been trained in how to serve in this ministry. While policies may be different in your diocese or parish, I would suggest discussing this with your Pastor if you are interested.
To become an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion most diocese set forth certain guidelines. It is up to the pastor of each parish to follow them and train people for this function. Here it used to be that a person had to serve at Mass for one year before being trained and allowed to take the Blessed Sacrament to the sick and homebound.
To be a Eucharist Minister one must be Ordained.
And Ordained a Priest or Bishop at that. Even a Deacon is not a Eucharistic Minister.
For clarification, a Eucharistic Minister is one who can confect the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in other words, to be able to say Mass.
An Minister of Holy Communion is one who offers the Blessed Sacrament to the faithful. A Bishop, Priest or Deacon is an Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion. A lay person, with proper training and approval of their Bishop, may act as an ExtraOrdinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC)
Become a priest and join the seminary. 
not necessarily in that order… 
to become an extraordinary minister of holy communion in our diocese now requires a training program. 10-12 weeks basic faith formation required of all lay ministers, then 8 weeks specific formation for EMHC, which includes training for taking communion to the sick. Even those who have been serving in this capacity for years are required to take the training. Whether or not all pastors are enforcing this, I don’t know, but my parish is.
Only the bishop and priest are Eucharistic Ministers, the deacon is an ordinary minister of Holy Communion.
Hi everyone! Does anyone here know what one needs to do to become a Eucharistic minister?
If you let the priest know your interested, I’m sure he’ll make a note of it, and if and when new EMs are needed, he may well ask you.
Its not a terribly complex ministry, but you’ll have to have some training.
And Ordained a Priest or Bishop at that. Even a Deacon is not a Eucharistic Minister.
For clarification, a Eucharistic Minister is one who can confect the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in other words, to be able to say Mass.
Not everywhere, in many parishes, lay people who distribute communion are EM’s.
That’s the terminology which is commonly used. By the way , you’re showing your age by using the term “priest”, instead of the more proper term, presbyter.
Wow. In our church, the parish nun says a prayer over you and you’re good to go. The priests don’t even get involved.
Which is an improper use of the term. It will take time but we must start using the proper terms. Because each term has specific meaning and are not interchangable as we (myself included) have done for the last 30 years.
The term “priest” is what is used in the Vatican and USCC currect documents.
Presbyter was attempted to be used as a broad substitute for priest in the late 70’s early 80’s. Talk about being dated. But offical Church documents never reflected this.
Just because it’s commonly used does not mean that it’s correct.
Every use of the term “Eucharistic Minister” or “Minister of the Eucharist” found in Vatican documents referes to Priests and\or Bishops.
The only term used in Vatican documents to describe the ministry of the distribution of the Blessed Sacrament is “Minister of Holy Communion”.
By the way , you’re showing your age by using the term “priest”, instead of the more proper term, presbyter.
Priest is the correct English term, That is the translation of the Greek presbeteros is “Priest”. That is how the Vatican translates that word. That is how the Douay-Rheims translates it. Are you saying I am older than the Douay-Rhiems Bible?
You’re just fooling around, right?
“EM” is not only retrogressive, it’s also inaccurate. They are extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, period.
“Priest” is every bit as proper as the term “presbyter” – it fact it’s more correct here in a largely English-speaking nation.
Next you’ll suggest that the Protestant term “presider” is more proper than “celebrant.” Backwash.
Stephen, please give this question a lot of serious thought and prayer. In many parishes, there are already far too many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion whose services are really not needed. Recent church documents such as Redemptionis Sacramentum address this point. Is there some other service you could perform for your parish that is not ordinarily the duty of the priest? Something more in line with your vocation as a lay person? Is there some area of expertise that you can share - accounting, landscaping, teaching, music? Or perhaps God is calling you to be salt and light among your friends and colleagues - to set them on fire with the love of Christ and bring them to the Sacraments. Living our vocation to the fullest does not always mean having a special role in the liturgy; in fact, most often, for lay people it does not mean that. Remember, the lay vocation is equal in dignity to that of the priest and religious - there is no need to assume the duties of another state in life in order to be holy.
Betsy
I purposely avoid “passing out Communion” because I think it is an exception that has become the rule. Let’s face it, EMHC are no longer “extraordinary” - they are ordinary. How can you tell? If they are there every weekend and there is a schedule.
It blurs the line between true ministers (ordained) and pretend ministers (lay). Lay people tend to develop a whole spirituality around it all instead of seeing it for what it is: a sad, regretful job that is meant to be temporary UNTIL WE GET MORE PRIESTS. Duh? But you don’t really see a push for vocations because now women get to stand up right alongside priests and pass out Communion. Think I’m nuts? Well, when 90% of the EMHC in this country are female. Priests get labeled “chauvanistic” if they fight against EMHC’s. So, what happens if we start getting more priests? Will these EMHC give up their perceived “rights” to pass out communion? I think that will take an act of the Curia to quell that rebellion.
EMHC are also a predominantly American phenomenom. You don’t really see EMHC in any other countries. It is interesting that many feel like this is something that Vat. II encouraged.
Try being a sacristan. That’s what I do. It’s a role that is very fun and is open to lay people.
went to Mass this past Sunday at a smaller parish in a small town. The pastor used to be our pastor. While he used two ministers for the Precious Blood (to the far right and far left of center), ONLY HE distributed Holy Communion to all… what a novel idea. :whistle: (God Bless Him)
Don’t
Lay people tend to develop a whole spirituality around it all instead of seeing it for what it is: a sad, regretful job that is meant to be temporary UNTIL WE GET MORE PRIESTS. Duh?
A shortage of priests isn’t the reason for the need for lay help in distributing communion.
One, the shortage of priests isn’t as critical as sometimes portrayed.
Second, the people’s recipiency of communion has changed dramatically since the second vatican council.
Years ago, when I was a kid, most of the folks assisting at mass didn’t receive communion every week. Many devout Catholics only received a few times a year. Centuries ago, it was even a smaller number of Catholics who recieved communion, the average during the reformation was just 4 times per year. Our Presbyterian friends to this day have quarterly communion which was adopted from popular Catholic piety when their faith was formulated.
Secondly, when I was a kid, the people only received communion of one kind, not of both as has been mandated since.
Both these factors have expanded the communion lines pretty dramatically, causing the need for the EMs.