Choreography for receiving only from the cup

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This happened to me 2 weeks ago. I’m an an EMHC. The woman joined the queue for the Host but when she got to where the person in front of her in the queue was receiving the Host, she bowed then sidestepped and came over to me, for the Blood. I assumed she didn’t take the Host for health reasons like wheat intolerance. It was all very graceful and did not disrupt Communion at all.
 
When I had surgery last month I got permission from my doc, a fellow Catholic, to partake of the wine at Communion that morning. I went up as usual but with my hands crossed over my breast, bowed, and whispered that I was only receiving the wine due to my surgery, then moved to the cup and took a small sip. It worked out fine, no problems.
 
maryjk said:
I have Celiac, and I receive from the cup.

I have spoken to my priest and we have worked this out.
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Thanks for weighing in maryjk. My son has allergies but wheat isn’t one of them and I was hoping someone with Celiac’s disease or wheat allergy would respond.
kell0618 said:
We have a few parishioners at our Church who cannot have wheat and they go up and receive from the cup when the Extraordinary Ministers of the Holy Eucharist receive.
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This was my initial reaction so that the person was receiving the first drink from the cup so that there would be no contamination.

I think one should do what maryjk did and talk to her priest and see how he wants to do it. If you’re out of town, see if you can talk to the priest before hand or do what others have mentioned and reverence the Bread and then receive the Wine
 
Here’s what goes on in my parish. We have one parishioner, a woman, who does not receive the Host, only the Precious Blood. I don’t know if she notifies Father that she is at Mass at that time or if he notices her, but he consecrates a small cup of wine (separate from the chalice) for her, which he leaves on the altar while distributing communion (he has two EMHC that distribute the Precious Blood, but he and the deacon–or another EMHC, if the deacon is not there–distribute the Hosts). Anyway, the lady in question waits to get in line at the very end (so as not to disrupt the flow of traffic) and then goes up. Father goes back to the altar and retrieves the small cup and gives it to her, she receives, and goes back to her seat.

I presume she is not able to partake of the common cup for some reason and I am assuming that what is being done is licit and the small cup is being purified along with the regular chalices. The main thing is that, obviously, she had to have spoken with Father ahead of time and notified him of her inability to receive in the usual manner and Father made adjustments accordingly. So I think it’s best to let the priest know what is going on, just as a courtesy, so as to avoid any confusion.

Now if what’s going on in my parish is NOT right, someone let me know, although our priest is generally a “by the book” man!
 
hilde_the_dog said:
Well in our parish we have been told not to come up for blessings. And we are not offered the precious Blood of Christ. And I have never seen in five years a priest offer anyone the chalice other than the deacon.
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Nor is it required of the priest to do so in general.

There are specific reasons for the priest to offer the main chalice to certain individuals on a case by case basis… wired jaws, recent stomach surgery, wheat/glutin allergies…

The only significant restrictions of note:
No one but an ordained cleric (subdeacon*, deacon, priest, or bishop) is permitted to take up the chalice from the altar. The EEM’s must be handed their communion cup by the cleric.

In general, EEM’s must also be handed the ciborium, save for certain specific circumstances (mostly outside the mass). Examples include a communion service (without consecration) lead by a lay minister with the bishop’s permission. (Happens in Alaska a good bit. Circuit priests and all)

Ordained ministers must be exhausted before EEMs may be used.

Both the body and the blood are the full Eucharistic experience alone, or together.

A priest is supposed to not deny the Eucharist to any who are in good faith and good standing.
  • Subdeacons are no longer being ordained in the Roman rite. There are subdeacons in some other churches in Union with Rome.
One point, in the late 1970’s, a parishioner at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage had their jaw wired shut. The priest handed the ciborium to the altar server to hold, retrieved the chalice, gave communion to this person, returned the chalice, and then took the ciborium again, and continued with communion.

In the church in Corvallis, OR, I saw one abuse in the early 1990’s: the parishoners were allowed by the Auxiliary Bishop to take up the cup from the Altar to receive. It WAS reverent, just not Permissible by the GIRM.
 
hilde_the_dog said:
Well in our parish we have been told not to come up for blessings. And we are not offered the precious Blood of Christ. And I have never seen in five years a priest offer anyone the chalice other than the deacon.
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If I attend your Mass, and I call ahead or speak to someone when I arrive, they will offer me the Chalice. Since I cannot receive the Host due to health reasons, and if I am properly disposed, they cannot deny me Communion.

I am in a parish that regularly offers the Chalice. I just make sure that I sit near the front on the correct side of the church and the priest makes sure that the correct Chalice comes my way.

It really isn’t that difficult.
 
What do people who cannot consume the Host do in the Eastern Rites?
 
Dandelion_Wine said:
[snip]
I think one should do what maryjk did and talk to her priest and see how he wants to do it. If you’re out of town, see if you can talk to the priest before hand or do what others have mentioned and reverence the Bread and then receive the Wine
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You should also see about communicating with the EMHCs if possible. We had an instance once when a woman with a severe gluten allergy (she can’t even drink from the chalice once someone who received the Host sipped from it) joined the line of EMHCs at the altar – as she does at one of the other Masses every week, with the pastor’s approval. But we didn’t know that (she was attending a different Mass than usual), and we had a visiting priest that day (so he didn’t know), and we were short one EMHC (so we thought an unscheduled person from another Mass was filling in the gap). So he handed her the chalice, and she tried to hand it back, but he had already turned to begin distributing the ciboria. It got very confusing, plus we ended up one station short that day.

The next time I saw her at “my” Mass, I told the priest about her. Everything went smoothly.
 
Aramis said:
Nor is it required of the priest to do so in general.

There are specific reasons for the priest to offer the main chalice to certain individuals on a case by case basis… wired jaws, recent stomach surgery, wheat/glutin allergies…

The only significant restrictions of note:
No one but an ordained cleric (subdeacon*, deacon, priest, or bishop) is permitted to take up the chalice from the altar. The EEM’s must be handed their communion cup by the cleric.

In general, EEM’s must also be handed the ciborium, save for certain specific circumstances (mostly outside the mass). Examples include a communion service (without consecration) lead by a lay minister with the bishop’s permission. (Happens in Alaska a good bit. Circuit priests and all)

Ordained ministers must be exhausted before EEMs may be used.

Both the body and the blood are the full Eucharistic experience alone, or together.

A priest is supposed to not deny the Eucharist to any who are in good faith and good standing.
  • Subdeacons are no longer being ordained in the Roman rite. There are subdeacons in some other churches in Union with Rome.
One point, in the late 1970’s, a parishioner at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage had their jaw wired shut. The priest handed the ciborium to the altar server to hold, retrieved the chalice, gave communion to this person, returned the chalice, and then took the ciborium again, and continued with communion.

In the church in Corvallis, OR, I saw one abuse in the early 1990’s: the parishoners were allowed by the Auxiliary Bishop to take up the cup from the Altar to receive. It WAS reverent, just not Permissible by the GIRM.
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By “EEM” do you mean “EMHC”…Extraordianary Minister of Holy Communion?
 
MusicMan said:
The term that really should be used is “Communion Distributor.”
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Why is that? I was taught that it’s “extraordinary minister of Holy Communion” (the “ordinary” minister being the priest and deacon).
 
MusicMan said:
The term that really should be used is “Communion Distributor.”
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The correct term is Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. The Church has been very clear that no other term is correct.
 
Then the Church has brought on all of the problems it has with EMsHC itself by insisting on such an inane, pompous sounding title. If you look at churches that use the old term of “Communion Distributor,” you don’t see the problems with abuses of and from this ministry that everyone gripes on CAF with. I’ll stick with the term Communion Distributor.

You’ll never see a female lay Communion Distributor get up wearing an alb and a “prayer scarf” and lead an unnecessary Word and Communion Service, but how many threads on here do we have complaining about EMsHC doing this?

I’ll stick with the old term.
 
MusicMan said:
Then the Church has brought on all of the problems it has with EMsHC itself by insisting on such an inane, pompous sounding title. If you look at churches that use the old term of “Communion Distributor,” you don’t see the problems with abuses of and from this ministry that everyone gripes on CAF with. I’ll stick with the term Communion Distributor.
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So you feel that by ignoring Church instruction on what to call this role, your parish has prevented any problems in this area. That’s like saying “We skip over the part where you’re supposed to annoint a child ‘priest, prophet, and king’ during baptism, and therefore we don’t run into anyone trying to usurp the role of the priest.”
 
There’s a big difference between the two. One is a name given to a liturgical function. The other is a dogma of the Church.

I have taken a moment to review RS and what it says regarding this matter. I will post a dissertation on my conclusions later today. You all would do well to review the section on RS that deals with Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Pay very close attention to the verbage and the use of capital letters. We on CAF may be misinterpreting what the document says and contributing to the problem.
 
MusicMan said:
Then the Church has brought on all of the problems it has with EMsHC itself by insisting on such an inane, pompous sounding title. If you look at churches that use the old term of “Communion Distributor,” you don’t see the problems with abuses of and from this ministry that everyone gripes on CAF with. I’ll stick with the term Communion Distributor.

You’ll never see a female lay Communion Distributor get up wearing an alb and a “prayer scarf” and lead an unnecessary Word and Communion Service, but how many threads on here do we have complaining about EMsHC doing this?

I’ll stick with the old term.
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The name accurately portrays the function. The Bishop, Priest and Deacon are the Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. EMHC are exactly that, extra ordinary…in other words outside of the ordinary. BTW, I may be wrong, but I don’t think there ever was an “old term” for EMHC…at least not according to the Vatican.
 
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