Eucharistic Minister. Should I resign?

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buffalo said:
Father, at most Sunday Masses extraordinary Ministers are scheduled. They are no longer extraordinary.
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That is the point of my earlier post. (Extraordinary no more refers to the regularity of their service then does Ordinary in the case of a priest). If at every Sunday mass the congregation is sufficiently large to unduly delay the mass and no ordinary ministers are available then extraordinary ministers should be used. Can they be scheduled? Sure, presuming they are aware that if for some reason the congregation is insufficient to need their ministry they will not be required.

Secondly, in the case of distribution under both kinds, the same extraordinary minister (for example an Acolyte) might be called on the distribute the Precious Blood at every mass. This is completely licit.

Extraordinary does not refer to the frequency of the ministry (although in an ideal world you would never need and Extraordinary Minister) but rather the fact that they do no fulfill that ministry by right of their office.

Hope this clarifies things.

PS I do not currently celebrate the EF as my Latin is insufficient to the task (but in the future… who can say 🙂 )
 
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
That is the point of my earlier post. (Extraordinary no more refers to the regularity of their service then does Ordinary in the case of a priest). If at every Sunday mass the congregation is sufficiently large to unduly delay the mass and no ordinary minister are available then extraordinary ministers should be used. Can they be scheduled? Sure, presuming they are aware that if for some reason the congregation is insufficient to need their ministry they will not be required.

Secondly, in the case of distribution under both kinds, the same extraordinary minister (for example an Acolyte) might be called on the distribute the Precious Blood at every mass. This is completely licit.

Extraordinary does not refer to the frequency of the ministry (although in an ideal world you would never need and Extraordinary Minister) but rather the fact that they do no fulfill that ministry by right of their office.

Hope this clarifies things.

PS I do not currently celebrate the EF as my Latin is insufficient to the task (but in the future… who can say 🙂 )
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The real question is what constitutes the need? How many people? How much time to distribute Holy Communion?

I see on Sundays Priests and Deacons walking around the grounds or in the Sacristy while lay people distribute. Not long ago a Deacon watched and made himself busy around the altar while lay people distributed.

Is it really to convenience people or for “active participation”?
 
buffalo said:
The real question is what constitutes the need? How many people? How much time to distribute Holy Communion?

I see on Sunday’s Priests and Deacons walking around the grounds or in the Sacristy while lay people distribute. Not long ago a Deacon watched and made himself busy around the altar while lay people distributed?

Is it really to convenience people or for “active participation”?
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I agree 100%. The fact that it is allowed, does no justify its use where the conditions are not met. If another priest or deacon can be reasonably called upon to assist in the distribution of communion, then they should be.

The over use of Extraordinary Ministers is often motivated by a distorted understanding of “active participation”, this is never justifiable. However, where I live, most parishes have only one priest, and no deacons. If there are two priest, often they have masses scheduled quite close together and so one cannot attend the other’s mass to assist.
 
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
I agree 100%. The fact that it is allowed, does no justify its use where the conditions are not met. If another priest or deacon can be reasonably called upon to assist in the distribution of communion, then they should be.

The over use of Extraordinary Ministers is often motivated by a distorted understanding of “active participation”, this is never justifiable. However, where I live, most parishes have only one priest, and no deacons. If there are two priest, often they have masses scheduled quite close together and so one cannot attend the other’s mass to assist.
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Father - thank you.

What are your thoughts on this?

The Mass of Vatican II | Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.

and one more thought - I wish there were more Priests here.
 
I have a question on EMHCs; the question from the OP seems to be resolve but if I need to start a new thread I gladly will 🙂

Here’s my question: from what I know, EMHCs are not supposed to be routine or scheduled ahead of time. If this is true, how exactly are EMHCs supposed to work? Are they to be notified before Mass and not a week ahead? I guess I’m just looking for some clarification 🙂
Thank you!
 
buffalo said:
Father - thank you.

What are your thoughts on this?

The Mass of Vatican II | Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.

and one more thought - I wish there were more Priests here.
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Fr Joseph is free to speculate on the original intent of the Council, and the conclusion that the reforms of the mass went far further then the council anticipated is, in my view, inescapable. However that is not to say that these further reforms are in themselves, improper. SC does leave it to the bishops conference with the recognition of Rome, to draw up the reformed liturgy. The fact that this was not always done well is evident in the reality that we are now talking about the “reform of the reform”.

Nonetheless the Ordinary way of celebrating the Mass, even in the new translation, remain primarily in the common language of the people and facing them. Will this change? Who can say?
 
coolduude said:
I have a question on EMHCs; the question from the OP seems to be resolve but if I need to start a new thread I gladly will 🙂

Here’s my question: from what I know, EMHCs are not supposed to be routine or scheduled ahead of time. If this is true, how exactly are EMHCs supposed to work? Are they to be notified before Mass and not a week ahead? I guess I’m just looking for some clarification 🙂
Thank you!
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It depends what you mean by scheduled. If by scheduled, you mean they will undertake their ministry, regardless of necessity then no the should not be scheduled. If however the priest was aware that at every Sunday morning mass there was a congregation of 800… then it would be imprudent to leave it to chance that sufficient (and properly formed) EMHC were available. In this case it would be quite proper to “schedule” a number of minister to be present. If for some reason only 50 people turn up, then the ministers should be asked to forgo their ministry.

I am not aware of any instruction which prohibits the rostering of EMHCs.
 
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
It depends what you mean by scheduled. If by scheduled, you mean the will undertake their ministry, regardless of necessity then no the should not be scheduled. If however the priest was aware that at every Sunday morning mass there was a congregation of 800… then it would be imprudent to leave it to change that sufficient (and properly formed) EMHC were available. In this case it would be quite proper to “schedule” a number of minister to be present. If for some reason only 50 people turn up, then the ministers should be asked to for go their ministry.

I am not aware of any instruction which prohibits the rostering of EMHCs.
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Back in the day - when Mass attendance was at around 70% how did they handle it?

I remember being an Altar server, the Communion Rail was very efficient. For around the same time as today’s mass with a bunch of EMoHC, one or two Priests easily handled a full Church.
 
Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers have opened up the way for abuses IMO. At my parish, the EM’s have started trying to “bless” people, especially my kids! When I go up there, I dodge those folks and have even jumped into the other line to get to the priest rather than have those people try to do the “play priest” ‘blessing’ thing. And I have talked to some higher ups at my church and they say “no!” those EM’s are not supposed to be trying to do that. I agree.

I hate seeing not only the extraordinary ministers all handling the Eucharist but also it bugs me to see people taking communion in the hand. Just bugs me.
 
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
It depends what you mean by scheduled. If by scheduled, you mean they will undertake their ministry, regardless of necessity then no the should not be scheduled. If however the priest was aware that at every Sunday morning mass there was a congregation of 800… then it would be imprudent to leave it to chance that sufficient (and properly formed) EMHC were available. In this case it would be quite proper to “schedule” a number of minister to be present. If for some reason only 50 people turn up, then the ministers should be asked to forgo their ministry.

I am not aware of any instruction which prohibits the rostering of EMHCs.
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Makes sense. Thank you! 👍
 
buffalo said:
Back in the day - when Mass attendance was at around 70% how did they handle it?

I remember being an Altar server, the Communion Rail was very efficient. For around the same time as today’s mass with a bunch of EMoHC, one or two Priests easily handled a full Church.
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This is true. Although it was before my days. There were however, many more priest (as opposed to only one in many parish now days) and often more masses. Also, communion was not distributed under both species.
 
As I said a few posts back, there have been some abuses come from EMHC’s. The way they try to “bless” children and adults who cannot commune, that drives me nuts!
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
This is true. Although it was before my days. There were however, many more priest (as opposed to only one in many parish now days) and often more masses. Also, communion was not distributed under both species.
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Exactly, Fr. MC,
I have witnessed an old priest(80+) give communion to almost 500 people with one server/paten.
Our current FSSP priest gives communion to over 400 people every Sunday. And he, too, has one server with a paten. Mass is always 1 hour and 15 imnutes for a High Mass.
 
corsair said:
Exactly, Fr. MC,
I have witnessed an old priest(80+) give communion to almost 500 people with one server/paten.
Our current FSSP priest gives communion to over 400 people every Sunday. And he, too, has one server with a paten. Mass is always 1 hour and 15 imnutes for a High Mass.
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Indeed, and I do not dispute the possibility. That it is possible does not necessarily mean that it is desirable. Although 4-500 may well be handled by just one priest (if communion is distributed under the form of bread alone). This might be acceptable in one circumstance but not in another (this is why the church does not specify numbers, but rather leaves it to the discretion of the priest / bishop).

Each priest (in the absence of any direction from his bishop) must make up his own mind as to what is acceptable (although I agree that he should err on the side of caution and use no more EMHCs then are truly necessary).
 
ProVobis said:
Would it be sufficient for, say, the Gloria, Sanctus, or Pater Noster in the OF? 🙂
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Sure (currently only the Associate Pastor), in the future, this would be possible. In due course I may be able to do more.
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
As I said a few posts back, there have been some abuses come from EMHC’s. The way they try to “bless” children and adults who cannot commune, that drives me nuts!
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This blessing thing is rampant only in North America I believe. In other countries I have been to I haven’t seen the blessing in lieu of communion, from the priest or otherwise.
 
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