Altar server also an EMHC?

[slewi]

I agreed to attend a mass tonight for the Feast of St. Peregrine. There was an altar server there who went up and retrieved the reserved hosts from the tabernacle, and then proceeded to distribute communion.

I was later informed that man was an EMHC.

Now my question is should he have been serving both as a server, and an EMHC? I swear I read somewhere that a person could only do the duties of one position at the same mass, ie. a server cannot be a lector, a cantor cannot be a server, etc. Where is that written? Or am I mistook?

Thanks

 

[Super_Grover]

For these questions, a good quick reference is Mass Confusion by Jimmy Akin.

You said that it was a man (as opposed to an altar boy) who was an altar server and served as an EMHC. If he was serving as an acolyte:

An acolyte may assist the priest as minister in giving communion to the people. [GIRM 146].

I looked in Akin’s book to see what it said about altar servers who are not acolytes. Akin says that altar servers who are not acolytes and who are not EMHC’s may not distribute communion. While I’m sure he’s correct, and I’ve found the same statement elsewhere archmil.org/resources/userfiles/Altar_Q&A.pdf I could not find a quote or a citation to the authority for this statement.

It should be clearly defined as to whether someone is an acolyte, but I understand that is not always the case in every parish.

A caveat to Akin’s very good book is that it’s purpose is to inform the reader as to the rules and to focus on what is permissible rather than what is aspirational. That is not a criticism, and it is good that someone wrote a straightforward book that refrained from editorializing. But, it may be a good practice to search what other people have to say about a particular practice.

For instance, Akin points out that holding hands during the Our Father cannot be compelled, but comes down on the side of saying that it is permitted. (p. 161 in my 1998 version of the book) But for treatment that reaches the same conclusion, but offers some mildly negative opinion on the practice, you could look at this:

catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=1175
or this
zenit.org/article-8728?l=english

If you are at all interested in such things, I recommend Akin’s book.

 

[John_Lilburne]

…I was later informed that man was an EMHC.

Now my question is should he have been serving both as a server, and an EMHC? I swear I read somewhere that a person could only do the duties of one position at the same mass, ie. a server cannot be a lector, a cantor cannot be a server, etc. Where is that written? Or am I mistook?

You are mistaken.

From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“100. In the absence of an instituted acolyte, lay ministers may be deputed to serve at the altar and assist the priest and the deacon; they may carry the cross, the candles, the thurible, the bread, the wine, and the water, and they may also be deputed to distribute Holy Communion as extraordinary ministers.”

 

[slewi]

Ok, thanks.

Am I not correct however, that the EMHC is not to open the tabernacle, remove the ciborium, and put the ciborium back after communion? That is reserved for the Deacon and Priest.

I’m just trying to make sense of what I saw last night.

 

[Super_Grover]

Guess I’d better get an updated edition of Mass Confusion. Mine is '98, and a 2002 GIRM is cited. However, it seems the answer to what the OP saw would now depend on the “absence of an instituted acolyte” in order for an altar server to be deputed as EMHC. (And if the man was an acolyte, then there is no issue in any event.) Agree or disagree?

 

[John_Lilburne]

…Am I not correct however, that the EMHC is not to open the tabernacle, remove the ciborium, and put the ciborium back after communion? That is reserved for the Deacon and Priest. …

I don’t think there is a liturgical law requiring this. Code of Canon Law, canon 938 §5 has: “The person in charge of a church or oratory is to see to it that the key of the tabernacle in which the blessed Eucharist is reserved, is in maximum safe keeping.” So it is more of a practical security issue, rather than a liturgical issue of whether the person has been ordained.

An exception to this is in the case of a Stational Mass of the Diocesan Bishop, when the Ceremonial of Bishops directs:
“165. When the giving of communion is over, one of the deacons consumes the blood that remains, takes the cup to a side table and there purifies and arranges it, or he may do so after Mass. Another deacon or one of the concelebrants takes any remaining consecrated particles to the tabernacle, then at a side table cleanses the paten or ciborium over the cup before the cup is cleansed.”

References:
Ceremonial of Bishops, Liturgical Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1818-9, pages 59-60. (My bold text).
The Code of Canon Law: New revised English Translation, HarperCollins Liturgical, 1997, ISBN 000599375X.

 

[japhy]

Now my question is should he have been serving both as a server, and an EMHC? I swear I read somewhere that a person could only do the duties of one position at the same mass, ie. a server cannot be a lector, a cantor cannot be a server, etc. Where is that written? Or am I mistook?

From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“100. In the absence of an instituted acolyte, lay ministers may be deputed to serve at the altar and assist the priest and the deacon; they may carry the cross, the candles, the thurible, the bread, the wine, and the water, and they may also be deputed to distribute Holy Communion as extraordinary ministers.”

An instituted acolyte is, by virtue of his office, an EMHC. An altar server filling in for an acolyte is not an EMHC by default, and would have to be specially deputed to distribute Holy Communion.

That being said, Vicesimus Quintus Annus, n. 10 says: “All the ministers and the other faithful, in the accomplishment of their particular function, do that and only that which is proper to them.” In other words, a lector shouldn’t double as an EMHC, nor the cantor double as an altar server. Those are separate ministries and should be filled by separate persons. However, it would appear that an EMHC could fill in for an acolyte and both serve at the altar and distribute Holy Communion (if really necessary) as GIRM 100 says.

 

[Phemie]

I don’t know how large your parish is but in my small one most of the people who are in ministries are in more than one. Many of our choir members are also readers and some are both readers and EMHCs. Without their multiple ministries we just would’t have enough people. It’s not rare to have a reader at the anticipated Sunday Mass also serve as acolyte, just because we have no altar servers.

 

[japhy]

I think it is in the context of a single celebration; that is, a person can be both a a lector and in the choir, but they should not exercise both ministries in the same Mass.

 

[Phemie]

I think it is in the context of a single celebration; that is, a person can be both a a lector and in the choir, but they should not exercise both ministries in the same Mass.

That would be the ideal, but in reality on any given Sunday at least one choir member will also be either reader or EMHC. It sometimes happens that on a particular Sunday both EMHCs and both readers are also singing in the choir.

I honestly don’t interpret the article the same way you do. To me it means that the instituted lector doesn’t serve as acolyte if there is an acolyte there and the acolyte doesn’t serve as EMHC if there is an Ordinary MHC there to do the ‘job’. Likewise the reader who usually brings up the Book of Gospels in procession doesn’t do so if there is a Deacon present since that is properly the Deacon’s function, but the Deacon doesn’t usurp the acolyte’s or the reader’s role.

 

[John_Lilburne]

, n. 10 says: “All the ministers and the other faithful, in the accomplishment of their particular function, do that and only that which is proper to them.” In other words, a lector shouldn’t double as an EMHC, nor the cantor double as an altar server. Those are separate ministries and should be filled by separate persons. However, it would appear that an EMHC could fill in for an acolyte and both serve at the altar and distribute Holy Communion (if really necessary) as GIRM 100 says.
From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“110. If only one minister is present at a Mass with a congregation, that minister may exercise several different duties.”

So, for example, the instituted lector can also be the altar server, cantor, psalmist, usher, sacristan, EMHC, commentator, etc.

 

[majuscule]

Thanks for this discussion!

I am going to read up on some of the links provided.

In our small mission church our lector is also the usual EMHC. I know that having a small congregation begs the question of why the need of the EMHC but as far as I know the pastor is in favor of having two people (the deacon and EMHC) distribute the Holy Blood.

I am often the alter server (I’m a grandmother to give you an idea of my age group) because we have so few young people at church. I have also had the training for EMHC though I have not yet served in the capacity (might have to this coming Sunday though). So I would really like to find out the real answer to the question of an alter server being EMCH (as well as lector!)

Would the best thing be to talk to the pastor and find out if he knows what the local Diocese has to say on this?