Is it okay for a person to self-communicate?

[amctheartist]

At the local Catholic hospital chapel, Mass is offered two times a month. The priest presiding at the Mass simply sets down the chalice with the precious blood and the ciborium with the hosts, and asks people to come up and self-communicate with both the host and the precious blood. I feel uneasy about that. Is that allowed? May I also point out that there are usually only a handful of people attending, so I am not sure why he just does not hand out Communion huimself. He just stands off to the back and watches people as they “serve” themselves.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

No, it is not allowed. Only priests concelebrating the Mass are allowed to “self-communicate” in such a fashion, precisely because they are concelebrating priests. And this may indicate why this priest is doing this: Perhaps he truly thinks that the congregants are “concelebrants.” If so, he is gravely mistaken. But rather than speculate on his reasons, ask him yourself why he does this and then politely point out that the Church does not allow for it. The document linked below provides the ordinary protocol for distribution of Communion in the United States.

Recommended reading:

Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion by the USCCB