Non-EMHCs Distributing Communion

[pcg2]

Would it be sinful to go receive communion from a person who I know is not an EMHC?

And what if I am not sure if someone is an EMHC or not (like a teenager giving communion at mass)? In a case like this, I only have speculation. Am I free to receive from them?

And if you say that it is sinful, please provide a link Too many people like to give unsubstantiated opinions based off of their personal preferences…

 

[puzzleannie]

how could you possibly sin on the basis of what someone else does or does not do? has someone said something to you that causes you to worry about this?

on the other hand, unless you have been with that individual and the priest up to the moment Mass begins, there really is no way to know whether or not the priest has commissioned him to that service, so the best thing for your spiritual help is probably to assume the priest knows his job and everything is fine until you have concrete proof otherwise.

 

[jmcrae]

Would it be sinful to go receive communion from a person who I know is not an EMHC?

And what if I am not sure if someone is an EMHC or not (like a teenager giving communion at mass)? In a case like this, I only have speculation. Am I free to receive from them?

And if you say that it is sinful, please provide a link Too many people like to give unsubstantiated opinions based off of their personal preferences…

How would someone be distributing Holy Communion without the knowledge of the priest?

Assume that everyone up there has been specifically asked by the priest to be there. He is the one with the authority to do this.

 

[curlycool89]

Would it be sinful to go receive communion from a person who I know is not an EMHC?

And what if I am not sure if someone is an EMHC or not (like a teenager giving communion at mass)? In a case like this, I only have speculation. Am I free to receive from them?

And if you say that it is sinful, please provide a link Too many people like to give unsubstantiated opinions based off of their personal preferences…

I’m confused by your question. How can someone be giving the Eucharist but not be an EMHC? Do you mean that someone just walked up and grabbed a ciborium or a chalice and is giving out the Eucharist?

Like unless the priest is freaking out that someone is giving out the Eucharist, I think you can safely assume that they are there with the priests permission or commission (essentially the same thing, because if they give permission then they are in effect commissioning them).

And there is nothing to say (besides a bishop’s, episcopal conference’s or priest’s directive) that a teenager can’t be an EMHC. I go to a university chapel and most of the lay volunteers are in that 18-25 age group. There’s nothing wrong or illicit about that (heck, one of the priests is only around 30).

 

[benedictgal]

Out of true necessity, a priest can deputize a non-EMHC to assist in distributing Holy Communion. However, only the priest can do this; an EMHC cannot go and pick someone from the faithful and have that person do it.

This selection by the priest (and only the priest) is covered in both the GIRM and RS.

 

[pcg2]

It was because I remember being told my certain people on this forum that a priest cannot appoint someone “out of the blue” to be an EMHC – in other words, that person must have gone through the “formal training” in order to be able to hand out communion. A priest cannot just ask any person to be an EMHC before or during the mass – they had to be “trained” before.

On another thread I was chastised and told that I had possibly sinned because of the fact that I was at a daily mass one day, and the priest asked me to help him to give the wine. I had never received the proper training for this, and so I was led to believe that what I had done was sinful.

And ever since then, I have been scrupling all the time at masses wondering if the EMHCs had gone through the “proper training” or not, and at one mass I even avoided drinking the precious blood because I was not sure if the person distributing it was a “valid” EMHC.

So just to finally be clear on this issue, a priest has the authority to ask anyone (provided they are competent enough to do so) before or during the mass to be an EMHC for that mass?

And so I shouldn’t be worrying about whether or not the person I receive from is a “properly trained” EMHC or not?

 

[benedictgal]

Here is the citation from RS:

Finally, in special cases of an unforeseen nature, permission can be given for a single occasion by the Priest who presides at the celebration of the Eucharist.257

Thus, if it were an emergency, then, the priest can do this. However, if he keeps asking the same person to help him, he may as well just ask the individual to show up for the next training session.