Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion - How many is too many?

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This is a little off topic but I’m too lazy to start another thread right now.

A few days ago I was discussing the subject of EM’sHC and receiving communion on the tongue or in the hand with some of my fellow Catholic friends. One of my friend’s told of a man she knew that had always received on the tongue and it didn’t matter to him whether he received from a priest or an EM. One Sunday at Mass this man took his son to the restroom. While the man waited for his son to finish his business he noticed an Extraordinary Minister exit one of the stalls without washing his hands. The man and his son returned to Mass where he witnessed the same EM from the restroom distributing the consecrated hosts. From then on the man only received communion from a priest.

When EM’sHC are trained is hand washing emphasized or is it just assumed that the EM’s would automatically wash their hands before handling the body or blood of our Lord? Does anyone know?
 
Yesterday, at my parish, two priests and a deacon were hanging out in the back during the distribution of Holy Communion, waiting to glad hand. They could have all easily distributed, making lay ministers totally unnecessary. I see this week after week. But, then, I don’t know what I expect from what I consider the “feel good, give the people what we think they want regardless if it’s the Truth or not” parish. It’s just one more abuse that I have witnessed there. I have learned the priests at my parish are basically indifferent to the Church’s rules. Their attitude is one of arrogance and thinking they are above the law.
 
from ewtn.com/expert/answers/EMCs.htm
Use of EMCs
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Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion may be used when the number of Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (bishops, priests and deacons) is inadequate.
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GIRM 162. The priest may be assisted in the distribution of Communion by other priests who happen to be present. If such priests are not present and there is a very large number of communicants, the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, e.g., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may depute suitable faithful for this single occasion.
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RS 88 Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of law.
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Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist
by Peter A. Kwasniewski

Perhaps it is a truism to say that in an age of widespread misinformation the hardest thing is just to get oneself rightly informed, this being more than half the battle. There are many who speak as though having authority, but all too often when you look closer, you see the blind leading the blind. A case in point, and a weighty case at that, is the now quite common practice of having a veritable army of lay people distributing communion at parish Masses throughout the world. While many Catholics have an uncomfortable feeling that something is not entirely right about the way laymen regularly assume ministerial functions, few are those who know precisely what the Church herself has determined about this matter, and more than a few who would be surprised even to hear the practice called into question. And if, on top of this, many false views are put forward as self-evident truths, we are back in the soup of misinformation. It is good to extricate oneself from this soup, seeing that the Catholic faithful have a higher destiny than to be croutons floating in the often thin broth of contemporary parish life.
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read more at: catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/2000-12/kwasniewski.html
 
Could you please offer a citation for any of the Fathers suggesting that the laity recite the consecratory formulae?
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Old practice, possibly abandoned in post-CVII times. Nonetheless, taught to me since earliest childhood here.
Seriously,
Will the women who make up 90% of the EMHC’s actually relinquish the role ?
I don’t think so, its the closest thing to the priesthood.
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It is proper that EMHE’s feel that their service is special and yes, it does sanctify them in some way, but it should never be used to give “at least” it to people who can’t be priestesses.

I say, we should do away with all “liturgical coordinators” and other laymen in roles which should belong to priests.
Additional EMHC should be used as necessary so that distribution of Holy communion does not take longer than 15 minutes. There should be two ministers of the Cup for each minister distributing the Body of Christ. It’s not based on the number but on the time.
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15 minutes is too much? I’ve seen 40 in my church.
At our Church there is typically 12 EMHC’s.
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and
At our parish celebration on Holy Thursday there was 3 priests & 3 deacons.
At Communion about 12 EMs came up to the Altar & the priests sat down & did not distribute Holy Communion.
We have a large parish & there was close to 1,000 parishioners in attendence but I feel the 6 ordained ministers would have been plenty.
What can be done to change this?
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We have 21000 parishioners here and 6 priests, of which 2 are residents (seminary professors). The church holds 5000 people without getting too crowded. Sometimes, during the mass on the most important days of obligation, it’s totally packed and some people stand in the open doors or even immediately before those (such as yours truly sometimes does with his breathing problems) and there’s never been any demand for EMHEs.
 
My parish has four priests and two deacons. There are six lines during communion so logic would say that we need no extraordinary ministers -or- maybe one or two at the most. Unfortunately, we use five every Mass because none of the other priests or deacons participate. I recently attended a parish in the San Jose which used three priests to celebrate communion. There were no extraordinary ministers used at all. I think the use of extraordinary ministers has been abused over the years.
 
**How many extraordinary ministers are too many?**One.

Unless you have one very old and very infirm priest who can’t physically walk up and down the altar railing to give out Holy Communion … in that case (which would be an “extraordinary” case, 1 extraordinary minister would be fine. It would be a good thing for people to spend 40 minutes kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament while one priest (if necessary) gives out Holy Communion. If it seems like a long time, let them pray their rosary for more vocations to the priesthood.
 
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chevalier:
We have 21000 parishioners here and 6 priests, of which 2 are residents (seminary professors). The church holds 5000 people without getting too crowded. Sometimes, during the mass on the most important days of obligation, it’s totally packed and some people stand in the open doors or even immediately before those (such as yours truly sometimes does with his breathing problems) and there’s never been any demand for EMHEs.
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Is your church a diocesan cathedral? St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York seats about 2,200 people; a church that seats 5,000 must be absolutely HUGE.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
Additional EMHC should be used as necessary so that distribution of Holy communion does not take longer than 15 minutes. There should be two ministers of the Cup for each minister distributing the Body of Christ. It’s not based on the number but on the time.
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Please can you tell us what document that comes from?

Thank you,

Angel
 
We use about 10 or 12 EMHC for Sunday Mass. My church holds 2400 people (I think) on two levels. We have two priests and one deacon, but because those two priests have to serve a second parish (twinned parishes), they can’t both be at any given Mass at the same time, so it’s generally one priest and one deacon. Our Sunday Masses are two hours apart, but time is still an issue, as Mass often goes longer than one hour, even with EMHC, and we have the typical small urban parking lot (and monumental gridlock and traffic jams if the congregations for two Masses ever were in their cars at the same time). For what it’s worth only the two EMHC up front distribute the Precious Blood.
 
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Catholic2003:
How about a poll option that says the laity should trust the priest’s judgment in this matter, and not try to second-guess his decision as to how many EMHC’s are needed in order to properly balance the distribution of the Eucharist with the rest of the Mass?
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For my 2 cents, and having been an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister, the celebrating Priest always gave me a signal as to whether he felt I was needed to assist or not, depending on the number of those participating.

However, I’ve been to relatively small churches where there have been more EEM’s than there are Priests and EEM’s at St. Peter’s Basilica in Montreal… at these relatively “small churches” I always got the sense that it was important to “expedite” the whole “process”

Personally, I kinda prefer a longer wait as it allows me more time to better prepare myself to receive my Lord :love:

BTW, There are so many posts in this thread and I picked Catholic2003’s msg at random in order to express my thoughts <hope you don’t mind Catholic2003!:)>
 
Daniel/David:
BTW, There are so many posts in this thread and I picked Catholic2003’s msg at random in order to express my thoughts <hope you don’t mind Catholic2003!:)>
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No problem at all.

You can also use the “post reply” button at the bottom of the thread.
 
A little more than a month ago on the Feast of Corpus Christi we attended a Mass that had 15 EM’sHC distributing communion, four of them were wearing shorts. The church was only half full (about 300 people). The Precious Blood was offered in crystal chalices. After communion almost half of the congregation left. This was not a poor parish.
 
EM’s?
In the Byzantine Church there is no need for EM’s. However, when there is a Large number of people, extra priests are in service.
 
The problem in our Diocese is there is only one Priest per Parish(Average), sometimes 1 Priest for two parishes. We need EM’s here! It is very sad so many fellow Catholics have such a dislike for their brothers, and sisters who assist the Priest out of love for the Church. Our diocese appreciates us and actually held a banquet for us to show their gratitude. there are way too many other things to worry about then someone who is doing a good work for their faith.

God Bless!
 
I have seen instances where on a weekday mass, with maybe fifty or sixty people atending there would be three or four Extraordinary Ministers and the Priest just sat down in the throne, sorry, thats what they look like, and relaxed. . Back in South Texas :bigyikes: : , there were instances where the Extraordinary Ministers, usually Sisters distributed communion to each other but not the congregation. This was of course after they had delivered one of their ringing homilies about our unworthiness to even be in the Church due to the unjustness of the governments position towards the poor.

I have also seen instances where a single Priest at a Traditional Mass distributed communion to several hundred effectively.in a short period of time with no apparent difficulity.

As I have often said. I believe the whole extraordinary minister thing was undertaken just to get the laity involved more and further diminish the Priests role in the Mass. Except for the rare(from what I’ve seen) instances where the Precious Blood is offered, or when you have several thousand in attendence, or there is no Priest available, or for the sick, there is absolutely no need for them

And to the Extraotrdinary Ministers, I mean no offense to any of you and know that you love the Church deeply. I just don’t really see a need for your services except in very rare and limited circumstances.
 
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palmas85:
…And to the Extraotrdinary Ministers, I mean no offense to any of you and know that you love the Church deeply. I just don’t really see a need for your services except in very rare and limited circumstances.
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As an overused EMHC, no offense taken.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon12.gif

It would suit me just fine to wait in a longer line for a Priest to give me the Blessed Sacrament. It seems there are those who absolutely feel it’s their RIGHT to be an EMHC and will practically grab the Holy Eucharist from the Priest’s hand.
 
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GloriaPatri4:
This is a little off topic but I’m too lazy to start another thread right now.

A few days ago I was discussing the subject of EM’sHC and receiving communion on the tongue or in the hand with some of my fellow Catholic friends. One of my friend’s told of a man she knew that had always received on the tongue and it didn’t matter to him whether he received from a priest or an EM. One Sunday at Mass this man took his son to the restroom. While the man waited for his son to finish his business he noticed an Extraordinary Minister exit one of the stalls without washing his hands. The man and his son returned to Mass where he witnessed the same EM from the restroom distributing the consecrated hosts. From then on the man only received communion from a priest.

When EM’sHC are trained is hand washing emphasized or is it just assumed that the EM’s would automatically wash their hands before handling the body or blood of our Lord? Does anyone know?
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Disturbing. It certainly ought to be required, and not just from a hygiene standpoint!
 
Hand washing and personal hygene is greatly enforced in my diocese. I would do it anyway out of respect for the Lord.
 
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