No such thing as eucharistic ministers?

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Question: Are Eucharistic ministers ok? I mean there is nothing in the CCC about them and I have a hard time getting a straight answer. I have heard that it is ok, and I have heard that it is terribly wrong, which one is it? IF it is ok to have them then why don’t they have to go through the same ritual in preparing to hold Jesus that the priest does? ex. washing of the hands etc. And also how are they allowed to offer a blessing like a priest does for someone who is not recieving communion? The pope does not allow them at his masses so do we?
 
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Kyrie:
Question: Are Eucharistic ministers ok? I mean there is nothing in the CCC about them and I have a hard time getting a straight answer. I have heard that it is ok, and I have heard that it is terribly wrong, which one is it? IF it is ok to have them then why don’t they have to go through the same ritual in preparing to hold Jesus that the priest does? ex. washing of the hands etc. And also how are they allowed to offer a blessing like a priest does for someone who is not recieving communion? The pope does not allow them at his masses so do we?
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Well this should get a few replies, but in the mean time let me address a few things.

First , they should be referred to as EMHC"s or Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, NOT Eacharistic Ministers, unless those you are referring to are priests or deacons. Secondly, you will find information on them in the GIRM. Third, the ritual of the priest washing his hands is really based on a tradition. In the old days, people brought whatever they could as an offering to the church. This included things like chickens, pigs, and other livestock. It was obviously necessary to wash one’s hands prior to communion. Today that tradition is carried on. As a EMHC, we are, or rather should be, taught to wash our hands before mass not only for cleanliness issues, but also out of reverance. Fourth, as far as the blessing is concerned, anyone can offer a blessing, however, it is not part of the job of the EMHC to do so in the mass setting. In other words, you can bless you children before they go to bed each night, but as a EMHC you do not have the capacity to offer the blessing while serving at mass. Now, that doesn’t mean you wont see it happening. In fact, in my parish, we are taught to give a blessing to children, but to refer teens and adults to a priest or deacon. This allowance for blessing children is done only to keep things orderly, since there is usually a large amount of children who do come forward for a blessing.

Are EMHC’s allowed? Yes. Should they be? Well according to some whom I am sure will reply at some point in time, no. They are allowed if there is a need. In other words, if a parish is short of clergy, then EMHC’s are trained and used to help serve communion. There are those of course who don’t like the use of them, but if there isn’t enough clergy to serve, then they are not only allowed but also a necessity.
 
Right, I guess if they are “needed”, BUt it seems like most churches use them to speed up mass because one or two clergy administering communion would take too long in most people’s eyes. I am familiar with the term extraordinary minister, but most people (including priests) refer to them as Eucharistic ministers usually. I know that as lay people we can all pray for God’s blessings on a person, but I am confused by what these “ministers” are used for. The pope does not use them so I guess I look to him as an example to follow. He also does not allow women altar servers… so why do most of the rest of the churches?
 
Certainly extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are permitted by the Church in times of necessity.

Of course, Redemptionis Sacramentum, released by the Vatican in March of this year, addressed their overuse as well as their proper name and concern over differentiation between their duties and clerical priestly duties.

It’s an easy read, and extremely informative. Take a look at the Vatican website here: vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html

While the entire document is very worthwhile, to obtain many answers to your concerns about emHCs, scroll down to Chapter VII. That’ll tell you just what Rome has recently told us to follow in regard to the temporary commission of extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.

Pax Christi. <><
 
I have a question for the EMHCs here…

I stopped serving as one (and left the Church for another parish) What was YOUR training? Ours was pathetic…we had what amounted to 4 hours (a span of 2 days…2 hours a day) We got xeroxed copies of GIRM handouts, watched a video for 30 minutes, then listened as another “newly formed” EMHC stated how she was “recovering” from an Opus Dei Parish…to which the Priest and liturgical director smugly laughed. We were informed there would be a “ceremony” followed by a Blessing for us…THIS NEVER HAPPENED. Also…around this time, the directive came out that anyone serving as EMHCs, etc…should be in FULL AGREEMENT with Church Teaching and if they werent, shouldnt be participating in thse matters. This was never brought up to us…and the female EMHC told me matter of factly that she doesnt support the Church on Homosexual issues, cause she has gay friends and blah, blah blah…

Did you guys ever get a formal blessing, more than 4 hours of “training”… any testing…any formal practice (walk thrus) in the Church…or asked if you accept all the Churches Teachings?

Thank You
 
At daily masses, I have seen nearly half the congregation swarm the sanctuary to be E.E.M.'s. I am always left with the impression that the priest is too busy to be bothered with distributing communion. The quicker we can get it distributed, the quicker we can get out of here. The whole idea diminishes belief in the real presence and the holy orders of the priest. It has done more harm than good.

When I was a Lutheran and an acolyte during my confirmation period I would assist the minister in the distribution of communion. The minister would distribute the bread and I would follow him by carrying the tray of individual wine cups- no additional help in the distribution was needed or demanded by the church members. I really cannot understand why so many of my fellow Catholics (who are supposed to believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood) are so hung up on “active lay participation” at the altar and in distributing consecrated hosts and precious blood.
 
Well if there was no such thing as a Eucharistic Minister, there would be no Eucharist.

With that said - only the Priest or a Bishop can be called a Eucharistic Minister because only he can confect the Eucharist.

The Deacon, Priests and Bishops are also Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion when referring to their role of distributing communion.

For all others who rightly or wrongly assist in distributing communion, they are to be referred to as Extraordinary (vs Ordinary) Ministers of Holy Communion which is abbreviated as EMCH

The link that Panis has posted and that has been posted in multiple discussions to Redemptionis Sacramentum addresses this in more detail.

It addresses many other liturgical rules and abuses and I strongly urge everyone who participates in any discussion on the liturgical section of this forum to take the time to read it -

Once read, pay particular attention to the last part which tells us we have an obligation to report any abuses we see which involve the Eucharist.
 
On days when I attend Daily Mass, I always hop into the priest’s line. On Sundays there are too many people to hop lines, so sometimes I am forced to recieve from an Extraordinary Minister. This bothers me.

Every time I recieve from anyone other than the priest, I PRAY that I’m not committing some sort of sacrilege. In fact, I say an act of spiritual communion when I do it, just incase the communion is rendered invalid because a non-priest has touched the host with unconsecrated hands, making the sacrifice unclean.

For you priests out there … there are alot of people like me who don’t like what you’re doing to the church. I don’t think it’s fair that I should be forced to recieve from an Extraordinary Minister. I should be able to choose to recieve from a priest without having to hop lines! Why should I have to goto extremes because the priests are too lazy??? The only reason I recieve from an Extraordinary Minister on Sundays is because the Redemptionis Sacramentum says it’s OK in extreme circumstances: On Sundays, our parish has about 500 people present at Mass. The use of Extraordinary Ministers could be justified in this situation. However, at Daily Mass, there are only about 20 people, so the use of Extraordinary Ministers is NOT justified. The priest alone could handle 20 communicants. Instead, we have an army of people assisting at daily Mass, several of which are women dressed in shorts and T-shirts!!! Seeing this makes me so MAD!!! Sometimes I think the church is falling apart.

JUST FOR YOUR INFORMATION — St. Hermenegild got his head chopped off because he refused to recieve Communion in the Hand from an Aryan Priest. He sacrificed his life to preserve the sanctity of the Eucharist both by not recieving in the hand (which was once considered a grave sin of sacrilege) and by not recieving from someone who is not worthy to administer the sacrament.

The old catechisms say that only the consecrated hands of a priest (or a Deacon to aid the priest in administering Communion) are allowed to touch a host. That is, in order to touch the Host one must recieve the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

It is my opinion that Deacons, not Extraordinary Ministers, should be the only people helping the priest administer Holy Communion.
 
I thought there were EMHCs here?

Doesnt anyone wanna volunteer what their training consisted of or how it was formed? Despite various ways from various Archdiocesees…(actually I think its more a Parish way of doing things) but I am curious to know how YOUR training went down.
 
Good for you Grape 👍
I agree with you and I also have done the line “hopping” to recieve from a priest or deacon directly. While I would never make a scene, I feel uncomfortable like you said when someone who has NOT recieved holy orders is distributing communion. And it also makes me so mad when it is like a circus on the altar and people are in shorts and t-shirts etc. Especially during a daily mass when few people are present, to me that is not a situation where an extraordinary minister is needed. Why is it that this is allowed by so many priests??? :confused: And why is it ok to have so many people on the altar? Shouldn’t it just be the priest, deacon etc…why all the lay people??
 
Faithful 2 Rome:
I thought there were EMHCs here?

Doesnt anyone wanna volunteer what their training consisted of or how it was formed? Despite various ways from various Archdiocesees…(actually I think its more a Parish way of doing things) but I am curious to know how YOUR training went down.
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Hey, my wife and I are emhcs, and we also had about 4 hours of training and practicing with the priest and the deacon. On an ordinary sat.nite or sun. Mass, we usually use two, to distribute the Precious Blood. We try to do it reverently and and to dress accordingly. No shorts, etc. We also take communion to the home bound and to the extended care unit in our town. We only have one priest to split between two parishes, so he is extremely busy. We both consider an honor to distribute communion, and we will continue to do so as long as we are needed. God bless.
 
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TheGrowingGrape:
In fact, I say an act of spiritual communion when I do it, just incase the communion is rendered invalid because a non-priest has touched the host with unconsecrated hands, making the sacrifice unclean.
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We must follow the church’s teaching on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Proper matter (bread and wine) + proper words of consecration + validly ordained priest = a validly consecrated Eucharist. It is then the true body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus as long as it maintains that form. You can not make it invalid if you wanted to. Even desecration doesn’t make it less Jesus and Jesus is never unclean.

I am at a church where our priest says 5 masses a weekend to packed crowds (we have over 800 families). Two of our Masses overflow our the doors and along the back walls (SRO). Without lay help, I do not know how we could distribute communion. We run Masses from 7:30 - 2:30 as it is.
 
I know there is a priest shortage, but does it ever occur to us that there might not be a shortage if the role of the priest was restored to what it once was? We are on a downward spiral and somehow it must be stopped. And as for receiving under both species…if anyone is serious about getting rid of EMHC’s, then DON’T take the Precious Blood. It adds no grace to your Communion, and distributing of the Precious Blood is one rationalization for EMHC’s.
 
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