Question for trained EMsHC

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EasterJoy

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I was interested by a comment made in another thread by a priest:
"…Now, onto the issue of the celebrant not distributing communion. Perhaps he was unable to due to illness or a physical issue. Or perhaps the 2nd priest was a last minute surprise and they already had EMHC there who had arranged their weekend schedule around being at that Mass so on this one occasion the celebrant sat out the distribution of communion…"

In our parish, part of the training to be a EMHC is the information that we are extraordinary ministers, used because there are generally not enough clergy present to distribute Holy Communion under both species.

In light of this clear training, we have a designated order in which EMsHC step down in the event that clergy are present to fulfill that function. A priest or deacon could show up 3 minutes before Mass starts, and there is a chain of communication in place to let the EMHC who won’t be needed know that he or she won’t be needed. The only reasons an EMHC would be used while an ordinary minister was available would be a) injury or other frailty or b) it was not sufficiently clear that the clergy was cleared to minister at liturgies in our archdiocese (because the rules about who may engage in public ministry are utterly non-negotiable since the charter to protect young people was enacted). In case b), the clergy wouldn’t be in vestments, either, though. (No public ministry means no public ministry.)

I’ve never heard of anyone, lay or clergy, having the least problem with this. When the Precious Blood was not distributed generally because of the seriousness of the swine flu threat, I went to several Masses in which no EMsHC were used at all, because we had enough priests and/or deacons to do without. We have had a priest not participate, but it was always because of injury or frailty. Certainly at special Masses for the archdiocese at the Cathedral, there are plenty of clergy and no EMsHC are used.

My question: Is the policy unusual, or is this the way it is in your parish? Has this been an issue one way or the other in your experience?
 
In my parish, in liturgies where the pastor, parochial vicar and the deacon are present, we do not use EMHCs. There was also a case when we had a visiting priest come to make a missionary pitch and the celebrant asked him to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion and had the assigned EMHC not serve.
 
benedictgal said:
In my parish, in liturgies where the pastor, parochial vicar and the deacon are present, we do not use EMHCs. There was also a case when we had a visiting priest come to make a missionary pitch and the celebrant asked him to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion and had the assigned EMHC not serve.
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Did it even occur to you that this would be an issue? Maybe it is because we used to have a regular trail of transitional deacons coming through, so the EMsHC are used to it, but getting upset about “being replaced” seems so foreign to me. It’s like the sitter getting upset because Mom and Dad are home. Mom and Dad are the norm; the sitter is only there out of need.
 
EasterJoy said:
Did it even occur to you that this would be an issue? Maybe it is because we used to have a regular trail of transitional deacons coming through, so the EMsHC are used to it, but getting upset about “being replaced” seems so foreign to me. It’s like the sitter getting upset because Mom and Dad are home. Mom and Dad are the norm; the sitter is only there out of need.
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No. It is not an issue. I think that they might have the understanding that they are the exception, rather than the rule.
 
EasterJoy said:
Did it even occur to you that this would be an issue? Maybe it is because we used to have a regular trail of transitional deacons coming through, so the EMsHC are used to it, but getting upset about “being replaced” seems so foreign to me. It’s like the sitter getting upset because Mom and Dad are home. Mom and Dad are the norm; the sitter is only there out of need.
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For a little while in my parish there were 3 priests in residence – they ministered to different parishes but resided in the rectory and would sometimes concelebrate at the Sunday morning Mass since they had different times in their own parishes.

I suggested that when they concelebrated there should only be one EMHC because we didn’t need the other two. You would be surprised at how upset some EMHCs were at the thought of stepping down in the event that three preists were available to distribute Communion! I had to bite my tongue to not ask if they only set foot in church because they were scheduled to be EMHCs.
 
It’s not an issues in our parish, either. We are all perfectly capable of counting. If we can see there is an extra priest , and he is not one who everybody knows to be too frail to stand for long, then we catch each other’s eye to ‘nod’ someone to go up, or hang back, whatever.

It really isn’t a problem. And I’ve certainly never heard anyone complain.
 
I am not an EMHC but we have scheduled EMsHC that are not needed from time to time. It often happenswhen a deacon who lives nearby comes to our parish for Mass (he isn’t assigned to us). No big deal. Our EMsHC walk in together and sit together during Mass. I have even seen one who came in as an EMHC not serve when he noticed there was another EM at Mass besides Father.
 
"…Now, onto the issue of the celebrant not distributing communion. Perhaps he was unable to due to illness or a physical issue. Or perhaps the 2nd priest was a last minute surprise and they already had EMHC there who had arranged their weekend schedule around being at that Mass so on this one occasion the celebrant sat out the distribution of communion…"
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I concur here, that sometimes hiccups in communication occur. Once, we had a visiting priest at the last minute. We usually have 3 EMHC’s, and all approached the altar at the Agnus Dei because no-one told them not to. Rather than cause confusion or hurt feelings, the celebrant stepped aside, though visibly slightly annoyed at his error.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and move on.
 
runningdude said:
I concur here, that sometimes hiccups in communication occur. Once, we had a visiting priest at the last minute. We usually have 3 EMHC’s, and all approached the altar at the Agnus Dei because no-one told them not to. Rather than cause confusion or hurt feelings, the celebrant stepped aside, though visibly slightly annoyed at his error.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and move on.
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This is where I part ways with the priest who originally wrote this response. RS clearly states that this practice is reprobated. It is not allowed. EMHCs, too, bear some blame here becasue if they see that there is a change, they need to be able to read in on what is happening.
 
Read Fr. Z’s blog today 7-21-11. See the letter from a Bishop in the Dakotas defining EMHC’s and their use in the OF.
 
It happens all the time; the EMHCs get to the altar area for Communion, see that there’s one too many (usually because no one was informed about the visiting priest or deacon, so no one knew that we had one too many), and someone voluntarily steps back.
 
I witnessed one of our EMHC’s tongue-lashing our deacon when he vested for a Mass that he wasn’t previously scheduled for. So as not to cause trouble, the deacon sat down during Communion so as not to “bump” said EMHC and cause further trouble.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
I witnessed one of our EMHC’s tongue-lashing our deacon when he vested for a Mass that he wasn’t previously scheduled for. So as not to cause trouble, the deacon sat down during Communion so as not to “bump” said EMHC and cause further trouble.
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Then that person needs to be counseled or reported to the pastor. The deacon is an ordinary minister of Holy Communion; the EMHC is only there because we need him/her due to a lack of ordinary ministers.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
I witnessed one of our EMHC’s tongue-lashing our deacon when he vested for a Mass that he wasn’t previously scheduled for. So as not to cause trouble, the deacon sat down during Communion so as not to “bump” said EMHC and cause further trouble.
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That’s ridiculous. And appalling. That EMHC needs to be ‘fired’ immediately.
 
We have no problem since our EMs know how to count. We need 8 ministers all together counting priests and deacons. I also do training for our diocese and I tell them to step down if there are extra priests or deacons who show up unexpected. In my parish though we have the opposite problem of some EMs (and sometimes the assisting priests) not showing. I also tell them to count and if they see there are less than 8 all together to come up even though they are not assigned.
 
We are also trained to give clergy precident, even if the priest, deacon, etc comes out of the sacristy after communion has already started.

We do schedule EMHC for all Sunday Masses based on our pastor’s request. However, we are told to count the ciboria on the altar and the number of clergy present before stepping forward (during the Lamb of God). The people scheduled for a Mass do not necessarily know ahead of time if there are visting priests or if one of our assigned priests in out of the parish. Like Joannm’s parish, everyone can count and it usually goes very smoothly.

I have only once seen a major confusion where extra priests came out late after EMHCs had started walking to their “station”. The priest did end up distributing and the EMHC went back to their pew. I doubt their were any hard feelings, just confusion. BUT, even without EMHCs, there would still have been some confusion because of how late the priest arrived.
 
At our parish we do not normally offer the chalice to the laity. We only “need” three ministers of Holy Communion and frequently have both priests and the deacon doing this. All of our EMHCs know that they only serve when needed, keep a low profile, and don’t complain if the clergy are all there.
At most of the other parishes around, I’ve never seen a Mass without EMHCs. Some use 3 even at daily Masses, and most use a whole big team at Sunday Masses - some a dozen or more, and it can take almost as long to get them all in place as to distribute Holy Communion.
I know of one particular parish that has a big chart up in the sacristy showing where all the ministers are to stand to distribute Holy Communion based on how many clergy are present - and the plan is to have 5 Extraordinary Ministers always, whether there is 1 priest alone, or up to two priests and two deacons.
 
runningdude said:
I concur here, that sometimes hiccups in communication occur. Once, we had a visiting priest at the last minute. We usually have 3 EMHC’s, and all approached the altar at the Agnus Dei because no-one told them not to. Rather than cause confusion or hurt feelings, the celebrant stepped aside, though visibly slightly annoyed at his error.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and move on.
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Our EMHCs are trained to simply return to their seat if they realize they’ve miscounted. Usually it is the last one who arrived, or if a couple is schedule together, one of them will step back. If it is done quietly and quickly it isn’t an issue and the congregation is hardly pointing and laughing, so there is no reason to be embarrassed.
 
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