Struggling with lay ministers and the Eucharist

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maryjk said:
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Nigel7:
For something that is supposedly “extraordinary”, they sure are common.
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It seems, in general, that people don’t see that the use of “Extraordinary” for both Minsters of Holy Communion and the “Extraordinary” Mass form, are the same.

In general, they seem to want the EF to be the norm, but don’t want EMHC to be the norm.

I do agree that EMHC are overused in some parishes. But I leave that decision to the pastor of the church. They know their congregation and they know what help they need.
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Um… I don’t want to “start” anything here, but Pope BVXI’s motu proprio made it quite clear that the EF had never been abrogated.
 
The word “extraordinary” in Church speak means not the ordinary.

The ordinary minister of the Eucharist is the Bishop/Priest/Deacon, so an extraordinary minister is someone who distributes the Eucharist who is not one of those.

The OF (Novus Ordo) is the ordinary form of the Mass that is to be celebrated today. The EF (or TLM) can also be celebrated, in addition to to OF, but it is not the “ordinary form” of the Mass anymore.

So what @maryjk said is true, especially when dealing with people on the forum.
 
Personally, I don’t avoid them if they are there, but I understand where the OP and others who feel like him are coming from and in general I think they are grossly overused.

There’s nothing per se wrong with lay people handling or distributing the Blessed Sacrament, just like there is nothing per se wrong with using a tupperware bowl instead of a gold ciborium. It is the same Christ either way.

However, there’s a reason the Church traditionally requires special kinds of plates, cups, and bowls to be used to hold the sacred species. We have special vessels set aside for a sacred purpose emphasizes the sacred nature of what they contain. They are an act of homage. They reinforce for us that this is something out of the ordinary worthy of special honor and consideration.

The same is true for a priest who has been set aside for sacred purposes in the liturgy. It’s why he wears special vestments, makes special vows, etc. There’s a reason the Church traditionally reserved administration of the Sacrament to them (and deacons extraordinarily).

These things emphasize the sacred nature of the Sacrament and that it is something out of the ordinary. When we deliberately choose to use something else, it can communicate disrespect (even if that is not what is intended) or make what we’re doing seem mundane. It’s easy to see why it might come across as irreverent for a priest to choose to use tupperware at Mass–nothing against tupperware, it is a very useful and worthy thing in other circumstances, and in extraordinary circumstances one might need to preserve the Blessed Sacrament in some. Analogously, the use of regular lay people to distribute communion without extraordinary circumstances necessitating it can communicate irreverence and disrespect and make the Eucharist seem mundane (in those extraordinary times we should be thankful for the lay people who, motivated by charity, step up and do the task with devotion and reverence).

Sure, ordinarily, those of strong supernatural faith may not need these extra helps to perceive the reality of the Holy Eucharist and to properly venerate it, but many do.

Unfortunately, the Church has eliminated many of these helps (some still remain) and the stats on belief in the supernatural truths associated with them reflect that.
 
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All I have to say to those of you who have a disdain for EMHC, I hope that you are never home-bound or in a hospital or nursing home for an extended period of time.

Were it not for a very faithful group of volunteers, the patients at my facility would never receive Communion. We are lucky to be able to get a priest for Anointing of the Sick before it’s too late most times.

EMHC are a great blessing to the Church. We are lucky to have them.
 
Yes I have asthma. I did not want to disturb the whole church with my hacking.
 
I guess we will have to disagree here because I do not see the two as appropriate comparisons.
 
CilladeRoma said:
All I have to say to those of you who have a disdain for EMHC, I hope that you are never home-bound or in a hospital or nursing home for an extended period of time
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With all due respect to the OP of another thread happening, a family member visiting his mother who is sick has found a jewelry type box with many hosts that were just dropped off by someone. He was present when this person, not a priest, dropped off one of the hosts.

I too when once visiting someone in the hospital, had the host offered to me at lunchtime, without being asked if I was Catholic or if I had fasted for an hour or was in a state if grace or able to receive. I needed to explain to the young woman offering that I was Catholic but had just eaten and could not take the host.

EM are needed at times but should not be the norm.
As I said earlier we should be fasting and praying for more priests so they can bring us the host and give us the anointing of the sick and other priestly blessings.

If we dont have priests, there is nothing EM can bring.
 
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I don’t know your friend and perhaps I am wrong but she should not be a EMHC as it appears she wanted to be center of attention instead of the host been the main focus…hugging people is disrespectful to the host.
 
I don’t know that saying he is rejecting Jesus is exactly fair. We are not required to receive at every Mass, only once per year during the Easter season. Preferring to receive from a priest, and abstaining when this is not possible, is a totally legitimate option.
 
Yes but it was during the Easter season that this was posted. We are required to take communion at least once during the Easter season. It wouldn’t hurt to take communion during the Easter season from an emhc infact it would be better than not having communion at all. So during the Easter season I don’t think skipping communion is a legitimate option
 
Well, that was how I saw it also, but she has been Catholic 60 years, converting when she married her husband at 25.
I had only been Catholic at the time when I got to know her 8 years.
I think for her going to church is more socializing than anything.
 
You are right, of course.
CilladeRoma said:
those of you who have a disdain for EMHC, I hope that you are never home-bound or in a hospital or nursing home for an extended period of time.
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This situation is not the same as extraordinary ministers at mass.
I’m not against EMHCs, I’m against the use of EMHCs when it’s not necessary. I thank God that people take the time to bring communion to the sick or serve at Mass.
 
I prefer Communion from the Priest and sit where I can receive from him. But I’m not opposed to EMHCs and when I go to other Parishes I often receive from them. It seems many people don’t have a preference. There are people at my Parish who haven’t received from the Priest in years. I read comments by people here saying the same thing. I couldn’t imagine never going to the front to receive from the Priest. I feel like I’d be missing out on something important to my faith.
 
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Hopefully this will work, he is something from Br. Jay. I remember him going into much more detail somewhere. I will try to find it.
extraordinary
 
I’ll look forward to you finding it. The above, however, only describes what “extraordinary” means. And, of course, it is correct that for both the “extraordinary form” of the Mass and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion “extraordinary” describes something that is out of the ordinary but allowed. Aside from that, the word doesn’t describe under which circumstances we are allowed to deviate from the “ordinary” and that’s what’s very different between the two uses of the word, as I tried to explain above.
 
TheMortenBay said:
Aside from that, the word doesn’t describe under which circumstances we are allowed to deviate from the “ordinary” and that’s what’s very different between the two uses of the word, as I tried to explain above.
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My assumption, based on my study of Liturgy and Canon Law would be that, just like saying the EF Mass, the decision lies solely with the priest/presider.
 
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MagdalenaRita said:
I too when once visiting someone in the hospital, had the host offered to me at lunchtime, without being asked if I was Catholic or if I had fasted for an hour or was in a state if grace or able to receive. I needed to explain to the young woman offering that I was Catholic but had just eaten and could not take the host.
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I would be highly upset if, while in the hospital, the EMHC or even the priest asked me if I had fasted, or in a state of grace.

They don’t do that in the Communion Line, they shouldn’t do that outside of it.
 
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