Hospital EMHC: consuming extra hosts?

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I am having a discussion with a priest friend of mine. As a hospital EMHC, I was instructed to consume remaining hosts after my visit to the hospital - if there are just a few left (1-3). My friend thought that even 1 remaining host should be returned to the tabernacle, as the reception of a second host by an individual (in a day) is a privledge, and - as mandated - must be received in the context of a Holy Mass (I pick up the consecrated hosts after daily Mass). I can see the contradiction clearly.

Since he is not from this country, he asked if I could look into it and find the ‘official’ instruction on this.

Does anyone know, and can you direct me to a current source for this information?

Thanks in advance, and God Bless!
-Cricket
 
As far as I know, consuming those Hosts rather than returning them to the tabernacle would be an act of self-communication, which only a priest can do. This would be different in an emergency situation, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I would return any extra Hosts to the church.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
As far as I know, consuming those Hosts rather than returning them to the tabernacle would be an act of self-communication, which only a priest can do. This would be different in an emergency situation, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I would return any extra Hosts to the church.
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Well, that sounds corret, but I have gone through DOZENS of liturgical practices documents from all over the country (from different parishes) - and ALL say the same thing!! (consume if there are only a few remaining).

Also, I DO know that there are situations where it is appropriate for self-communication (ie, a host falls on the floor doing HC, we are supposed to pick it up and consume it immediately) - so maybe it IS allowable after hospital visitations? I don’t know, I am so confused …!
 
MusicMan said:
Who instructed you to consume the remaining hosts?
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As part of our ‘training’ packet received from our church, there is a letter describing procedures that states: “As a general rule of thumb, if you have less than five host remaining you can consume them yourself, but if you have five or more hosts remaining they should be returned to the tabernacle…”

Personally I have always returned the hosts to the tabernacle, but this came up in conversation with my friend yesterday. When I told him what I had been trained to do, he was shocked. I told him I had it in writing (it is sitting right here in front of me), and he asked that I check deeper into this issue and get a definitive answer.

I have an email in to the Director of Liturgy of my Archdiocese, but I thought I might get a faster response from the learned people on this list … 😃
 
I think it might have came up quite recently, and most people seemed to think it wasn’t a good idea to be consuming them yourself. If there are only a few remaining it might be better to check before hand if any of the nurses/hospital staff are Catholic then if you have any remaining you can distribute them.
 
We discourage EMHC’s from consuming more than one host because it may lead to a casual attitude toward the host. However, I don’t know of a specific instruction on this.

It is my understanding that it is not self-communication because the hosts were given to you, or set aside for you by a priest.
 
Upside of consuming them is they are not left ‘hanging around’ until the EMHC can return them to the tabernacle and are not carried hither and yon unnecessarily.
 
The best answer to this question is “it depends”. Under ideal circumstances you should choose a time where you can get the hosts, go to the hospital, and return any unused hosts to the tabernacle.

In real world that cannot always happen. With the times that hospital visits may be allowed and hours that you can get the tabernacle key may not always be able to line up. You may have times where you cannot return the hosts. In those cases you would be permitted to consume the remaining hosts.

I personally always visit the hospital at a time where I can get the hosts at one Mass and return them by the time another Mass is ending.

If the reason you can not return the hosts to the tabernacle is that it isn’t easy, well nobody said the ministry was supposed to be easy.

This is not covered under self-communication regulations and the regulations where you are only permitted to receive the Eucharist once a day (unless second time is at Mass.) A priest told me that it isn’t self-communication because you officially received communion the “first time” from a priest, this is just a continuation of that time. Similar to an EMHC drinking the remaining blood of Christ even though they may have received it earlier when the priest handed the cup to them. It isn’t included in the second time receiving regulation because consuming the Eucharist against mis-use outweighs that rule. The taking of the Eucharist with you somewhere other then directly to the hospital and back to the church would be considered a misuse.
 
I’m surpirsed that no one has said anything about your comment on consuming a host after it fell on a hospital floor. As a minister of care, I always took a zip lock bag in the rare event that a patient unknowingly couldn’t swallow and had to spit the host out, or in case someone vomited. Your parish should have something in place to handle a situation like that.

On the other topic, at our parish we are instructed to return the host to the Tabernacle. The only time we were told to consume remaining hosts was in the event that the church was closed upon our return, or if there was a broken piece.

Other ideas, if you are down to your last patient and you have two left, you can give them two hosts.
 
RichT said:
I’m surpirsed that no one has said anything about your comment on consuming a host after it fell on a hospital floor. As a minister of care, I always took a zip lock bag in the rare event that a patient unknowingly couldn’t swallow and had to spit the host out, or in case someone vomited. Your parish should have something in place to handle a situation like that.
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Actually, I meant the host falling during communion at the church. Although it DID actually happen to me a few weeks ago at the hospital - a blind and deaf elderly dying woman took the host into her mouth, and then spit it back out (bless her heart). Luckily I had one pyx that was already empty, so I placed it in there until I could dispose of it properly back at the sacristy. (I have heard of a ‘heroic act’ on the part of a priest who consumed just such a host immediately, but … well, I just didn’t go there.) My priest friend also said that it would have been proper (if I didn’t have an extra empty pyx) to wrap it up in a tissue until I returned to the church.

Needless to say, my parish has done less than a stellar job in training - and as our liturgical director has ‘left’ the parish, I am considering offering to take over this aspect (of training and getting together the correct rules for at least this specific ministry). My first and foremost concern is the fact that all the other (mostly quite elderly and set-in-their-ways) EMHCs have been improperly trained and are doing things incorrectly (and thus disrespectfully) with respect to the Body and Blood of Christ. Things have been quite ‘loosey goosey’ here for quite some time in these regards … 😦

Thanks for all the comments! If anyone has an actual church document, though - I would appreciate it. I will not be able to point out - let alone enforce - any changes based upon what you or I think … it’s going to have to be based upon an ‘official’ document, if you know what I mean …😉
 
cricker said:
Thanks for all the comments! If anyone has an actual church document, though - I would appreciate it. I will not be able to point out - let alone enforce - any changes based upon what you or I think … it’s going to have to be based upon an ‘official’ document, if you know what I mean …😉
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You will not find an official document on this. This is usually stuff that is taught at archdiocese level training. Sometimes Ministry of the Sick training is done seperate from “normal” EMHC training since only a small portion of EMHCs work for the Ministry of the Sick.

Sometimes hospital ministry involves thinking on your feet because situations occur that can’t be taught and knowing the doctrines and doing things in the sprit of the doctrines has to be done.

In those situations I always ask a trustworthy priest if I did the right thing and so far I haven’t gotten anything wrong.
 
The official liturgical book for this is “Holy Communion and the Worship of the Eucharist Outside of Mass”. Chapter II has the title “Administration of Communion and Viaticum to the Sick by an Extraordinary Minister”. The instructions in n. 60:
“The sick person and the other communicants say once:
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,
but only say the word and I shall be healed.
COMMUNION
61. The minister goes to the sick person and, showing him the sacrament, says:
**The body of Christ (**or: The blood of Christ).
The sick person answers: Amen, and receives communion.
Others present then receive in the usual manner.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
62. After communion the minister washes the vessel as usual.”
(The Rites Volume One, Liturgical Press, 1990, ISBN: 0-8146-6015-0, page 661).

Washing the vessel indicates to me that all the consecrated hosts are consumed. There is nothing about returning the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle. I think this is an unnecessary journey, with unnecessary risks of the Blessed Sacrament.

Does the Extraordinary Minister consume a consecrated host? It says “Others present then receive in the usual manner.” Usually for a Communion Service the minister has Communion first, saying quietly “May the body of Christ bring me to everlasting life.” (n. 33). For some reason this is not in n. 61. But I would regard that as “the usual manner” that n. 61 has. So it seems to me that the official instructions are unclear on this point:
  1. Does the Extraordinary Minister consume a consecrated host in the usual manner, but at a different time?
  2. Does the Extraordinary Minister not consume a consecrated host at all?
  3. Can the ceremony be regarded as a normal Communion Service, with the Extraordinary Minister consuming the consecrated host first?
Unfortunately I can see arguments (both for and against) all three. A practical approach would be for the Extraordinary Minster to consume all the remaining hosts last.
 
John, at a hospital, we are there to serve others and not ourselves. Since a Minister of Care can serve several patients at each visit, there can actually be several small Communion Services. It wouldn’t be appropriate to receive each time. Instead, as in my situation, a head EMHC would serve all Ministers of Care at a service before we went to the floors to serve the sick.

I also serve the homebound, and my partner and myself never receive during this visit.

As far as others, we do serve family or friends who might be present provided they are able to receive, but still not ourselves. I would venture to say that the service in a hospital setting is not exactly the same as a Communion Service one might attend at a church if a Priest was not available.
 
Well, we receive the Communion of the Sick service booklet, which includes the official instructions, rites, and texts for ordinary communion calls to the sick and confined - plus special texts for a sick child - as well as the special rite for communion calls in a hsopital or institution. Each has its particular instructions and format (in addition we have additional readings, commentaries, intercessions, and psalms). But none of it addresses what happens after the concluding prayer after hospital service.

We have been reminded to purify the pyx after use (by adding water, swirling to capture particles, and then consuming the water) - and of course to consume if less than 5 hosts remain (which I dont because I am not comfortable with that).
 
Do what you are directed to do by your superiors. If you find hard evidence that your superiors are directing you to do something erroneous, discuss the matter with them. If you still believe that your understanding of the law is correct and theirs is wrong, you have three options: 1.) Take the matter to a higher authority, 2.) Resign your position, 3.) Continue to comply with their directives.
 
Receiving communion (whether from one’s own hand or from another’s) is not the same thing as helping to consume the left-over Species.
 
cricker said:
…We have been reminded to purify the pyx after use (by adding water, swirling to capture particles, and then consuming the water) - and of course to consume if less than 5 hosts remain (which I dont because I am not comfortable with that).
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What happens if 6 consecrated hosts remain? Are they all given to the sick communicants? Doing a trip with them to a church with a tabernacle seems contrary to this part of the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum:
“[133.] A Priest or Deacon, or an extraordinary minister who takes the Most Holy Eucharist when an ordained minister is absent or impeded in order to administer it as Communion for a sick person, should go insofar as possible directly from the place where the Sacrament is reserved to the sick person’s home, leaving aside any profane business so that any danger of profanation may be avoided and the greatest reverence for the Body of Christ may be ensured.”

Also Code of Canon Law, canon 935: “It is not lawful for anyone to keep the blessed Eucharist in personal custody or to carry it around, unless there is an urgent pastoral need and the prescriptions of the diocesan Bishop are observed.” (The Code of Canon Law: New revised English Translation, HarperCollins Liturgical, 1997, ISBN 000599375X.)

If the Extraordinary Minister has already received Communion that day, then according to canon 917 he should not receive Communion again except at a Eucharistic celebration.

Perhaps a solution would be to dissolve the consecrated hosts in water, then consume the mixture.
 
John_Lilburne said:
Are they all given to the sick communicants? Doing a trip with them to a church with a tabernacle seems contrary to this part of the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum:
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This is what happens when people outside of a ministry try to interpret rules for a ministry without the proper training. The Rule you quote from RS only applies to those people that are taking communion directly to a single sick person or group of sick people where they know exactly how many people they will be serving. Depending on the hospital and their rules for patient privacy they usually do not know the number of people they will be seeing until they arrive at the hospital.
If the Extraordinary Minister has already received Communion that day, then according to canon 917 he should not receive Communion again except at a Eucharistic celebration.
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The rule is outweighed by the necessity to protect the Eucharist from (name removed by moderator)roper use. As you already stated a EMHC is supposed to go directly to the place where they are supposed to go without stopping ANYWHERE and by extension directly back to the church with any left over hosts. What do you do with the left-over hosts if there is no way to return them to the Tabernacle? The only valid option is for either the EMHC to consume them or the last couple of patients to consume them. The receiving more then once (except at Mass) doctrine does not apply because they already received from a priest before they took the hosts and the subsequent receiving is just a continuation of that. Similar to an EMHC consuming remaining blood and/or remaining hosts at Masses outside normal church environments. All of this was covered at my archdiocesan training.
Perhaps a solution would be to dissolve the consecrated hosts in water, then consume the mixture.
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No, if you have ever done this it take a long time for the hosts to dissolve. We are talking days. I had to do this once when I had a host hit the floor in a issolation ward (and in this case the mixture is returned to preferrably blessed ground). Except for unusual circumstances this isn’t an option for “everyday” service.

As I said before an EMHC should make every attempt to schedule their service at a time that they can return unused hosts to the tabernacle, but if real world things prevent it they can consume the hosts.
 
Not to leave anyone hanging on this, but I have still not heard back from the Liturgical Director of the Archdioses on this. As far as the following quote:
Marauder said:
This is what happens when people outside of a ministry try to interpret rules for a ministry without the proper training. The receiving more then once (except at Mass) doctrine does not apply because they already received from a priest before they took the hosts and the subsequent receiving is just a continuation of that. Similar to an EMHC consuming remaining blood and/or remaining hosts at Masses outside normal church environments. All of this was covered at my archdiocesan training.
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I ran into this quote from Redemptionis Sacramentum:
[107.]Furthermore all will remember that once the distribution of Holy Communion during the celebration of Mass has been completed, the prescriptions of the Roman Missal are to be observed, and in particular, whatever may remain of the Blood of Christ must be entirely and immediately consumed by the Priest or by another minister, according to the norms, **while the consecrated hosts that are left are to be consumed by the Priest at the altar or carried to the place for the reservation of the Eucharist. **[196]

Clearly, finishing off the hosts is not the same thing as consuming the remaining Blood of Christ, as this distinction clearly indicates. Again - personally, I return all remaining hosts, but I want to address this issue if it is being incorrectly taught …

If I hear back on my email, I will post an update. God Bless, everyone! -Cricket
 
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