How many regular EMHCs at your parish?

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How many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion serve at your parish on the average Sunday? Just out of curiousity (yes, I know it killed the cat, but still…). I am not looking for arguments, just responses.

God bless! 🙂
 
We typically have a priest and deacon distributing the Body of Christ and two EMHCs distributing the Blood of Christ. Sometimes, a third EMHC will take communion (hosts only) up to the choir.
 
Since there are 3 churches and 15 masses each weekend in my parish there are lots of EMHC each Saturday/Sunday. Of course they rotate duties, plus there are those who only minister outside of Mass, so there are many more than that commissioned.
 
I am estimate we have about 6 to 8 per Sunday Mass. We would have from 200 to 500 people per Sunday Mass. We have one priest and one deacon. The deacon isn’t at all of the Masses. The laity also receive the Precious Blood. Our building is in the shape of a semi-circle. The Communion distribution lasts for about 5 to 10 minutes. I don’t spend my time counting EMHC’s or timing Communion so I am not sure.😛
 
We usually have 8 or 9, depending on whether or not the deacon is present.
 
Although I put 7+, the reality is we still struggle because:
  1. Three EMHCs have other ministries that cannot clash with EMHC.
  2. Two sometimes cannot leave young children during mass.
  3. Most attend Sunday Mass and tend to have two or three ministries.
  4. Sunday mass calls for 3 EMHCs.
  5. We have no Deacon (one priest and two churches).
Two are allowed two ministries - the meeter and greeter (no back up if they are away) and one of the people taking the collection. We all pray for more to answer the call.
 
We have 8 assisting at our main Sunday Mass. We don’t have a deacon, just one priest and it’s a busy parish. However, there are many more EMHCs who assist the priest in visiting parishioners who live in our many nursing and residential homes (there is a large elderly community in our town).
 
CruceSignati said:
How many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion serve at your parish on the average Sunday? Just out of curiousity (yes, I know it killed the cat, but still…). I am not looking for arguments, just responses.

God bless! 🙂
Click to expand...
Are you looking for a tally of how many people in the parish serve as EMHCs in total, how many are used between all the Masses on Sunday, or how many are used per Mass?
 
Hello!

At my parish there are usually 5 EMHCs. I think this is primarily due to the layout of my parish.

Many other parishes have the altar at the front of the church, with 2-4 aisles leading up to the front. At my church, the altar is in the center of the church, with a wing of pews on the right, front and left of the altar, and the tabernacle with the choir behind the altar.

During communion, therefore, there are 6 lines (not including the choir) that approach the altar from 3 different sides. Kind of a lot for one priest to handle.
 
CruceSignati said:
How many Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion serve at your parish on the average Sunday? Just out of curiousity (yes, I know it killed the cat, but still…). I am not looking for arguments, just responses.

God bless! 🙂
Click to expand...
We have eight EMHCs serving for each Mass. We have nine Masses for Sunday. There are three on Saturday evening & six on Sunday.
 
At the Saturday evening Mass we have 1 offering the Precious Blood. We usually have fewer than 50 in our assembly for that Mass and I estimate that fewer than 40% receive from the cup.

At our Sunday morning Mass we have 2 offering the Precious Blood, one on each side of the church. Fewer than 30% receive from the cup at that Mass.

Father distributes the Body of Christ himself at all but the Family and Midnight Masses at Christmas and the Easter Vigil. Then he’ll have an extra EMHC helping him.
 
We have usually around 6, but fewer when all four Deacons are present.
 
We have 23 EMHCs plus the priest and a deacon at our 11:00 am Mass. We usually have between 1,650 and 1,800 people at that Mass.

Peace

Tim
 
Thank you for your feedback so far!
Joe_5859 said:
Are you looking for a tally of how many people in the parish serve as EMHCs in total, how many are used between all the Masses on Sunday, or how many are used per Mass?
Click to expand...
Just how many are used per Mass. 🙂
 
We have 3 Masses each weekend.

At each Mass:

  • *]During cold&flu season (when we do not proffer the cup) 1-2 EMsHC (depending on whether the deacon is serving)
    *]During other times of year (with the cup proffered) 3-4 EMsHC (depending on whether the deacon is serving)

    Happy counting :whacky:
    tee
 
Joe_5859 said:
Are you looking for a tally of how many people in the parish serve as EMHCs in total, how many are used between all the Masses on Sunday, or how many are used per Mass?
Click to expand...
We have about 1,000 at each Mass. Communion is offered Intincted by our two priests. They are often assisted by our Deacon and an ordained Chaldean Subdeacon who is a member of our parish.

The Subdeacon is our only EMHC

All is done at the communion rail.
 
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