Does your parish have multiple priests? If so, do they come out to assist at each communion time?

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If your parish has multiple priests, and they are not off-site performing an important function (like celebrating Mass at another parish) or are otherwise unavailable for good reason, do they come out and assist at each and every communion time?

If they did, they would be performing their sacred duties and minimizing the over-use of EMHCs.
 
Lepanto said:
If your parish has multiple priests, and they are not off-site performing an important function (like celebrating Mass at another parish) or are otherwise unavailable for good reason, do they come out and assist at each and every communion time?

If they did, they would be performing their sacred duties and minimizing the over-use of EMHCs.
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We have no EMHCs. Our parish is not big enough to need them. Afterall they are Extraordinary MHC**.** We don’t seem to have extraordinary circumstances here. If we have a busy Mass (eg. Christmas, Easter, Aug 15th) then another priest or deacon, we have 2 permanent deacons, will assist at Communion time.
Gearoidin
 
Lepanto said:
If your parish has multiple priests, and they are not off-site performing an important function (like celebrating Mass at another parish) or are otherwise unavailable for good reason, do they come out and assist at each and every communion time?

If they did, they would be performing their sacred duties and minimizing the over-use of EMHCs.
Click to expand...
We have three priests. We also have retired priests that help out.

Of course we also have 8 Sunday Masses plus a small chapel that is attached to our parish which also has a Sunday Mass.

They very rarely show-up to Mass to distribute communion on Sundays. I’m guessing their time is better spent polishing homilies, resting, eating or time in prayer.
 
We have 2 priests and a Deacon that serve nearly 5k people in a weekend… we have EMHC’s, and I think they’re unfortunately needed, but both priests aren’t present at all masses. They usually split the masses 2 by 3, one priest taking the Saturday Evening and 2 Sunday morning Masses, and the other taking the other 2 Sunday morning/afternoon Masses. The Deacon usually helps out at 2 of the Masses, I think. I don’t know their schedules, but I’m positive that they have other things going on when they’re not saying masses, because our parish is so big and busy.

And I thank God for them everytime I can, because they do so well to get everything done being so short staffed…
 
Three local parishes I frequent:

Local parish has two priests, five deacons and a number of visiting priests. Has 2(3?) Saturday Masses/ 6 Sunday Masses. At most 1 priest and 1 deacon and any given Mass.

Neighboring parish is attached to a very small monastery, 4 priests 1 deacon. Larger building so only 5 weekend Masses. Again only one priest and deacon at most (but I understand this one, if I don’t agree)

Third parish has 2/3 priests and a deacon, 6 weekend Masses, and I have never seen less than three priests distributing on a Sunday (OF or EF)
 
There are a few parishes in my diocese that do bring in other priest(s) to help during Communion time. At one parish everyone receives kneeling at the altar rail. A second priests comes in and each priest takes one side of the rail. At our local cathedral additional priests always come in to help at Communion time. Generally there are one or two priests in the centre who distribute Our Lord to those who choose to receive standing, while one or two other priests go along the altar rail on either side distributing to those who choose to receive Our Lord kneeling. Most other local parishes, sadly, make use of EMHC.
 
We currently have 5 priests in residence (only 3 actually assigned to this parish) and a deacon. We have 4 Sunday morning Masses, 1 Sunday evening and 1 Saturday evening. The Deacon isn’t always around, but at each Mass all the assigned priests come out to distrubute communion. We also do use some EMHC–maybe 4 to 6 per Mass, but the church is always full and our parish is huge. During daily Mass usually only the priest saying Mass is there and he will often distribute communion by himself. At the noon Mass we might have 1 EMHC helping.
 
We have 1 pastor and two retired priests in residence ( 82 and 94 years old )

They all come out to assist with Communion. We have 3 daily Masses, 2 Sat evening Masses (one is an EF Mass), and 5 Sunday Masses (including two Sunday pm Masses)

At the main Sunday Masses, our two deacons will be present as well to assist, so we very rarely use any EMHC’s
 
I regularly attend two parishes: one very large mega-parish with three priest and six deacons, and a smaller FSSP parish. The large parish uses an army of EMHCs at each mass, and sometimes the priest sits back and lets them do all the work. At the FSSP parish, one priest celebrates Mass while the other hears confessions. Confessions stop at mid-point through the mass and the other priest comes out to help distribute communion.
 
We have four priests (5 if you count our retired monsignor who sometimes comes to celebrate Mass and other sacraments). I’ve also seen multiple priests at later Masses rather than early morning Masses. Usually, it’s the Deacon and Priest up front, and the EMHCs at the back.
 
I don’t understand why some of you are so fussed about EMHC.

They are allowed, right? The Church has made provision for them to be used in the OF if the priest deems them necessary, right?

The laity is not in a position to judge whether they are necessary. That’s the priest’s job. Right? He, not the laity, stands in the place of Jesus Christ Himself. Right?

What part of this am I failing to understand?

Our parish of 7000 has three priests, two deacons. Nine Masses on a weekend, many that are standing room only. One priest does a Mass. Occasionally a deacon will help, but not in the Masses that I attend.

In case you are wondering–the EMHCs distribute Communion both in the hand and on the tongue, and occasionally when someone kneels, and they do it cheerfully and reverently. They don’t add their own words to their greeting. They don’t dress up, but they don’t look like pigs, either. I love them and appreciate their service to all of the rest of us.
 
We have one priest. He is usually assisted at daily Mass by one EMHC - although the priest could probably handle the 50 or so attendees by himself. We have 3 weekend Masses, and there are usually 3 EMHCs at each Mass.
 
Lepanto said:
If your parish has multiple priests, and they are not off-site performing an important function (like celebrating Mass at another parish) or are otherwise unavailable for good reason, do they come out and assist at each and every communion time?

If they did, they would be performing their sacred duties and minimizing the over-use of EMHCs.
Click to expand...
We have 1 English speaking priest, who is learning Spanish and can do mass in Spanish, 1 fluent bilingual priest and 2/3 Spanish speaking priest (he is shared with another parish), who can do mass in English but is not fluent, and 4 deacons (1 English speaking and 3 Spanish speaking). We have 1 English and 1 Spanish mass on Saturday evening and 4 English and 4 Spanish masses. We also have one mass at a mission church 30 miles away.

The other priests do not assist with communion. First, the priest that is 2/3 times does one or more masses at another parish, so he is not available for at least 1 1/2 hours. Also, the priest that does the mass at the mission church is not available for at least 2 1/2 hours. The English speaking deacon only does one mass a weekend, as his health is not good. I do frequently see the deacons after the Spanish masses, so I suspect most if not all Spanish masses have at least one deacon at them.

Our parish uses 0-3 EMHC’s depending on how many ordinary ministers are present.
 
Our parish has around 14000 parishioners and we have a Sunday Mass attendence of about 80%. To cope we have 10 Masses on Sundays. It is simply not possible to do without EMHC’s.
 
Cat said:
I don’t understand why some of you are so fussed about EMHC.
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Because for the last 30+ years EMHCs have been OVER used as some sort of special ministry for the individual
Cat said:
They are allowed, right?
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only in extraordinary cirucumstances.
Cat said:
The Church has made provision for them to be used in the OF if the priest deems them necessary, right?
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Not always, in many parishes things are run by anti-clerical progressives.
Cat said:
The laity is not in a position to judge whether they are necessary.
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Not according to the vatican. In Redemptionis Sacramentum we are all called to assure abuses are not taking place.
Cat said:
What part of this am I failing to understand?
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I am assuming in your neck of the woods EMHCs are needed. In my part of the country where parishes are much much smaller. EMHCS are widely over-used. Today there were 8 of them for 125 communicants. Along with the priest and deacon. thats 10 people serving. which factors to about 12.5 communicants per EMHC. [Edited]
 
We have 3 assigned, plus a religious order that normally has a couple priests around on the weekend. We do not use EMHC’s since communion is at the Altar Rail using intinction. Usually 3 or 4 priests will come out to distribute communion.
 
We have 9 masses and 3 priests. Only one priest is ever present at mass (unless it is Easter Vigil), so we have 7 EMHCs. (6 if a Deacon is present). (Total of 4 hosts, 4 cups). Now, it could be argued that 9 masses keep 3 priests so busy that it is needed. I have no way of really knowing what they are doing when. 😉 But I do know that our pastor likes to be one of the “side” host distributors while there are two EHMCs up front. The Deacon is always given the cup. I’m not sure what the rules are there.
 
We have two main priests and a couple others that help some. We also have a number of deacons, I’m not sure how many now as a couple were just ordained. We have Mass Sat. night, 4 Sunday morning, on in the afternoon (Spanish) and one in the evening.

At all the Sunday Masses I’ve been to, there is a priest and a deacon. Usually the other priest comes out for Communion. And we still use quite a few EMHC. It is a BIG parish! For daily Mass, it is just the celebrant and one EMHC.
 
Cobbfmly said:
Our parish uses 0-3 EMHC’s depending on how many ordinary ministers are present.
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I was reviewing my answer and I found I misstated. We use 0-7 EMHC’s depending on number of parishioners attending the mass and the number of ordinary ministers that are present.
 
Yes we do have multiple priests (and two deacons) and they do assist, only occasionally do we utilize EMHC’s and generally it would be only one or two unless we had a very large Mass (like Christmas for instance).
 
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