Question for Ext. Eucharistic Ministers

[JamalChristophr]

I saw a little girl at mass the other day, well, I didn’t actually see it- the young woman distributing the Sacred Blood caught it. A little girl about 5 or 6 maybe was walking by and just was holding the Sacred Host cupped in her hands. The young lady stepped in and stopped her in a very gentle manner, bent down, and spoke to her. Anyways, the girl must not have received first communion, because the young woman had to relieve the girl of the Sacred Host and take it back to the person distributing the Eucharist.

Does that sort of thing happen very often? In your training as minsters of the Eucharist, are you instructed to be on the watch for things like that?

(I’m a little surprised that the young lady caught it. Good thing she did. Mom was ahead, and she just looked back quickly and kept walking. Obviously it was not the little girl’s mistake.)

 

[Fauken]

I’ve only ever seen something like that once. Only in my case, she was an adult, and I ran after her to tell her that I needed to see her consume the host. When I distrubute the Body, I let my head follow them up until I, at the minimum, see the communicant make a motion to consume the host. If I don’t, I follow them.

When I distribute the Precious Blood, however, it’s hard for me to see someone consuming the Body while at the same time distributing the Blood, so I remain focused at that. During my training, I was told to help the EMs distrubuting the Body by watching and making sure people consumed Him, but it’s too many tasks at once.

 

[yankeesouth]

I’ve had more than one priest ask reliable parishoners, not just ministers, to be on the lookout for that sort of thing

 

[TheLittleLady]

Extrordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are trained to watch for that situation. Now, those on the Chalice are not supposed to move about, at our parish those on the chalice are to send an Altar Server or an Usher to those “absconding” with the Host.

 

[JamalChristophr]

In this case there were double persons for distribution of the Sacred Blood per side. Her method was quickest and least obtrusive.

 

[the_coppersmith]

As an EMHC (for hospital ministry) I can tell you that no, policing communicants is not part of the training. We do ensure that, if someone receives the Host from us, they consume it immediately. The other EMHC should have noticed

In any case, the parents would have noticed, and worst case scenario, that would have been her fist communion. It’s a bit of a hassle as they have to talk to the Pastor about what happened and so forth. I guess the great question is, as St. Pius X used to ask children: do they know the difference between regular bread and wine and the Holy Eucharist? Many young children are quite aware of the Divine Presence…

 

[Mary_Ellen]

All of us EMHC in our Parish are encouraged to be on the lookout, whether “on-duty” or not. There have been too many instances in one of the churches in my parish. In fact, for a period, we were only distributing Communion on the tongue because hosts were being found in the pews !