How do I stop self-intinction?

[Susan_Akers]

I am an extraordinary minister of holy Communion in our local parish church. While I was distributing the precious blood of Jesus, an elderly lady came up and dipped the host into the precious blood before she consumed it. It happened so fast that I did not have time to stop her. If I caught her in time, what should I have said? I know that, while we were being trained, our parish priest instructed us not to allow it. How do I handle it in future?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

I’m not sure there was anything you could do to stop the self-intinction at the time. Trying to do so could have caused spillage of the precious blood or dropping of the host, and that is, in my opinion, worse than allowing self-intinction. Scolding her after doing so would have been embarrassing for both of you and not constructive to a solution.

I recommend that you let the priest know what happened and suggest to him the possibility that he instruct parishioners, both in a homily and in the parish bulletin, on the proper procedure for receiving Communion.