How to be a good EMHC

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So I’ve decided to become an EMHC or “Eucharistic Minister” as they’re called at my parish. I wanted to ask if anyone had any tips or suggestions for being a good EMHC. I want to help people receive the Eucharist and want to do it well. I will be serving at a Saturday Evening Eucharist with about 350 attendees and 10-14 EMHCs. We are a parish where in the hand is the norm and kneeling is out of the question.
 
Do not be overzealous with your “Body/Blood of Christ.” Sometimes that happens and it is very uncomfortable.
 
LouisvilleRC said:
So I’ve decided to become an EMHC or “Eucharistic Minister” as they’re called at my parish. I wanted to ask if anyone had any tips or suggestions for being a good EMHC. I want to help people receive the Eucharist and want to do it well. I will be serving at a Saturday Evening Eucharist with about 350 attendees and 10-14 EMHCs. We are a parish where in the hand is the norm and kneeling is out of the question.
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  • remember Who you are giving to the people – that’s always foremost
  • don’t rush; it’s not a race
  • be prepared for those who may prefer to receive on the tongue, even though in the hand is the norm for your parish
  • pray before and after
 
You need to be prepared for people who do not hold their hands in the correct position, or who otherwise might present some challenges. (And no, this is not to start another CITH discussion.) Examples I have experienced: young ladies with sweater sleeves almost covering their palms. The mid-air “snatch and grab” folks. Those receiving on the tongue, but who only open their mouths the tiniest bit and force you into a kind of cave exploration mode. Small children who get ahead of their parents and who present themselves, and you’re never quite sure if they’ve made their First Communion or not. Maybe your parish has all this sorted out, but I’ve yet to experience a Communion line where things like this don’t occur. Good luck!
 
agnes_therese said:
  • remember Who you are giving to the people – that’s always foremost
  • don’t rush; it’s not a race
    *** be prepared for those who may prefer to receive on the tongue, even though in the hand is the norm for your parish**
  • pray before and after
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👍 Good suggestion.

I have sometimes had this problem when visiting other parishes, so now I usually join the line to go to the priest because of it. Sometimes EMHCs don’t seem to know about “on the tongue”.
 
LouisvilleRC said:
So I’ve decided to become an EMHC or “Eucharistic Minister” as they’re called at my parish. I wanted to ask if anyone had any tips or suggestions for being a good EMHC. I want to help people receive the Eucharist and want to do it well. I will be serving at a Saturday Evening Eucharist with about 350 attendees and 10-14 EMHCs. We are a parish where in the hand is the norm and kneeling is out of the question.
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On a separate issue EMHC’s are NOT Eucharistic Ministers. The priest is the Eucharistic Minister. A lay person cannot be that. You should point this out to whoever is calling them that at your parish Church.
 
LouisvilleRC said:
So I’ve decided to become an EMHC or “Eucharistic Minister” as they’re called at my parish. I wanted to ask if anyone had any tips or suggestions for being a good EMHC. I want to help people receive the Eucharist and want to do it well. I will be serving at a Saturday Evening Eucharist with about 350 attendees and 10-14 EMHCs. We are a parish where in the hand is the norm and kneeling is out of the question.
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The best way to do it well is not to do it. 14 EMs for 350 people? Absurd.
 
I’m new to this website and I just happened upon this topic. I’ve been an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for several years now, and I’ve come across some of the things mentioned here. Many good points were already made. (Don’t rush, Remember Who you are giving to the communicant, etc). I would like to mention what happened to me one time. I was distributing the Precious Blood in a chalice, and one communicant wanted me to hold the chalice to his lips, as he did not want to receive the chalice in his hands. I was ignorant at the time, and I tried to tip the chalice to his lips and ended up spilling some of the Precious Blood on my sleeve! I’ll never do that again! I’ll insist (quietly and politely) that the communicant receive the chalice in his hands. I understand that the communicant was probably trying to be respectful of the Sacrament in his own way, but the situation was rather awkward.
 
LouisvilleRC said:
So I’ve decided to become an EMHC or “Eucharistic Minister” as they’re called at my parish. I wanted to ask if anyone had any tips or suggestions for being a good EMHC. I want to help people receive the Eucharist and want to do it well. I will be serving at a Saturday Evening Eucharist with about 350 attendees and 10-14 EMHCs. We are a parish where in the hand is the norm and kneeling is out of the question.
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Did you receive training? Follow your training.

If you didn’t receive any training, or if there is no Coordinator of EMHCs who can train you, insist that the Pastor walk you through what he expects you to do, in detail.

This isn’t a ministry for people just walking in off the street and helping out. Training is essential.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
You need to be prepared for people who do not hold their hands in the correct position, or who otherwise might present some challenges. (And no, this is not to start another CITH discussion.) Examples I have experienced: young ladies with sweater sleeves almost covering their palms. The mid-air “snatch and grab” folks. Those receiving on the tongue, but who only open their mouths the tiniest bit and force you into a kind of cave exploration mode. Small children who get ahead of their parents and who present themselves, and you’re never quite sure if they’ve made their First Communion or not. Maybe your parish has all this sorted out, but I’ve yet to experience a Communion line where things like this don’t occur. Good luck!
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This.

It’s really not that hard, but many people don’t understand COTT. How it’s suppose to work is that you place the host on the person’s tongue. Which requires you to actually and physically Stick. Out. Your. Tongue. Like Einstein here, as he demonstrates how far you should stick out your tongue.

You’re receiving Jesus. I don’t care how awkward you think you look. I’ve told people before, it’s COTT, not Communion in the Mouth. This is not a carnival game where the priest/minister tries to fling a host into a small hole for extra points.
 
curlycool89 said:
This.

It’s really not that hard, but many people don’t understand COTT. How it’s suppose to work is that you place the host on the person’s tongue. Which requires you to actually and physically Stick. Out. Your. Tongue. Like Einstein here, as he demonstrates how far you should stick out your tongue.

You’re receiving Jesus. I don’t care how awkward you think you look. I’ve told people before, it’s COTT, not Communion in the Mouth. This is not a carnival game where the priest/minister tries to fling a host into a small hole for extra points.
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It is also not communion on the teeth. I can’t tell you how many times people have come up to receive communion without sticking their tongue out enough, but biting down on the host when I attempt to place it in their mouth.
 
Joannm said:
It is also not communion on the teeth. I can’t tell you how many times people have come up to receive communion without sticking their tongue out enough, but biting down on the host when I attempt to place it in their mouth.
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To be a little blunt here, those people really aren’t doing it right.

Is there really any different between the person who grips it in their teeth and the person who does the “snatch and grab” (or “Communion between the Fingers” ;))? In both cases they’re not really receiving, more taking. The symbolism of us receiving communion should always been retained.

Receiving it in the teeth could also lead to problems like accidentally splitting it in two and one piece dropping onto the floor. From my experience, most parishes need to have a few lessons on how to receive (either COTT or CITH).
 
curlycool89 said:
This.

It’s really not that hard, but many people don’t understand COTT. How it’s suppose to work is that you place the host on the person’s tongue. Which requires you to actually and physically Stick. Out. Your. Tongue. Like Einstein here, as he demonstrates how far you should stick out your tongue.

You’re receiving Jesus. I don’t care how awkward you think you look. I’ve told people before, it’s COTT, not Communion in the Mouth. This is not a carnival game where the priest/minister tries to fling a host into a small hole for extra points.
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Sorry, but I don’t accept your photo of Einstein as being a good example of how to reverently stick out your tongue to receive Holy Communion. I don’t know where you got the notion that he was demonstrating how to receive Communion on the tongue. According to He was sticking his tongue at the photographer on his 72nd birthday because he was tired of having his picture taken. Whether you were kidding or not, that is not how far one needs to stick out their tongue. If one opens their mouth wide and sticks their tongue out just over the bottom teeth to the bottom lip, that is perfect.
 
zab said:
Sorry, but I don’t accept your photo of Einstein as being a good example of how to reverently stick out your tongue to receive Holy Communion. I don’t know where you got the notion that he was demonstrating how to receive Communion on the tongue.
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Whoa, calm down, it was in jest. I thought that would be obvious, as Einstein is well know for being Jewish, not even Christian.

I would honest prefer people to be a little more Einstein then many people now who open their mouth about a 1/2’’ and have their tongue at about their lips though.
zab said:
Whether you were kidding or not, that is not how far one needs to stick out their tongue. If one opens their mouth wide and sticks their tongue out just over the bottom teeth to the bottom lip, that is perfect.
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For COTT, the tongue needs to extend (for the tip) at least just past the lower lip (or at the very least the tongue is on top of your lower lip). That and opening your mouth wide enough will make it easy for the priest/minister to place the host on your tongue. Any less of an open mouth, and the host ends up dangling precariously half off of your tongue, or the priest/minister is competing in the weirdest precision competition on Earth as they attempt to get a host into a very small hold.

If you have your tongue wholly inside of your mouth (behind the lip) then we’re back to Communion in the Mouth, where the priest/minister is either putting their fingers in your mouth (and that’s just unsanitary) or dropping the host into your mouth (again, like a Carnival game). Again, it’s Communion On the Tongue. The host is suppose to be place onto your tongue, and to do that the priest/minister needs to be able to see your tongue and be able to maneuver the host onto it.

Am I deliberately being a little over the top? Yes. But it’s just to show that doing the posture right is important. It’s not easy, nor does it come automatically to people and many do need instruction on how to do it right. Here’s a video from Busted Halo (Fr. Dave Dwyer) I found on “How to Receive the Eucharist”. Notice the women receiving on the tongue at ~1:19, that’s how it should be done.

Once at the Chapel on campus here, the priests actually went and did a little announcement on it at Daily Mass. The announcement basically came down to “Stick out your tongue”. Even at communion, the priest still had to say a few time to people while they were receiving “Tongue. Stick out your tongue”. That actually happened, I was there. None of this little story is an exaggeration.

I know I keep emphasizing the tongue, but it’s hard because I need to get around some cultural awkwardness in North America that has taught us how wrong it is to ever stick out your tongue. So, in conclusion, ignore what your mother said, and Stick. Out. Your. Tongue.
 
A couple more tips:
  • Don’t mumble “The Body of Christ” or “The Blood of Christ”
  • When a communicant does not have two free hands (like when they’re carrying an infant or toddler), please place the host on his/her tongue.
 
How to be a good EMHC? Love the Eucharist as if there was nothing else in this world and then thank God that you were chosen to share this infinite gift with others. The practical parts are just that and those will take care of themselves. I have been an EMHC for a few years and while things change my devotion has not. Your presence with the ciborium or the cup is noted by the congregation and your ministry preaches the gospel. If anyone tells you not to be one, as was previously posted by someone here, ignore them as they are diverting your following the ministry given to you by God. You will do fine and God bless you…teachccd 🙂
 
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