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HeWillProvide
Guest
How is the schedule? The “training”? The ministering itself? etc.?
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puzzleannie
Guest
in this diocese the requirement is the Basic Faith formation course (required for all ministry and pre-req for specialized courses) at the diocesan lay ministry institute, 16 sessions, plus an 8 session course on Mass, the Eucharist and the ministry itself, including a workshop on taking communion to the sick.
in practice most parishes just train the old fashioned way, OJT
in theory you are supposed to serve no more than once a month, but because of no-shows, no-calls, no-notices many end up serving more often or being pushed into duty.
I would say to prospective volunteers for this parish, please don’t sign and up and take the training we pay for and take a place on the schedule if you do not plan to honor that commitment.
I can’t do the actual ministry because of severe arthritis, and episodes of dropping things, and have a personal issue with the whole idea of EMHCs so have never gone into it.
in practice most parishes just train the old fashioned way, OJT
in theory you are supposed to serve no more than once a month, but because of no-shows, no-calls, no-notices many end up serving more often or being pushed into duty.
I would say to prospective volunteers for this parish, please don’t sign and up and take the training we pay for and take a place on the schedule if you do not plan to honor that commitment.
I can’t do the actual ministry because of severe arthritis, and episodes of dropping things, and have a personal issue with the whole idea of EMHCs so have never gone into it.
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NewUlm1976_2000
Guest
The schedule and training vary a bit by each parish. Some are more detailed than others. You can request certain masses to be scheduled. Once you are trained you can also be a last second sub if there are not enough EMs for the mass (number per mass varies by parish).
You will probably start out at masses to learn the ropes, home communion is usually a separate ministry you can ask to also partake in, ask your parish for more details about taking it to the homebound and/or nursing homes.
Most parishes have a 20/80 rule where 20% do 80% of the work or so. You may be asked to help out more often than not depending on the number of people listed, or even at masses you do not usually attend. Just follow the standards and procedures set at your parish.
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baltobetsy
Guest
People are slipping! Where’s the person jumping in to say being a Eucharistic Minister is exactly like being a deacon or a priest, because those are the only real Eucharistic Ministers. Ohhhhh, you meant Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion! That’s different, then!
OK, back to your regularly scheduled answers to the actual question. Seriously, it is nice to see people answering the OP’s real question rather than picking apart the terminology.
Betsy
OK, back to your regularly scheduled answers to the actual question. Seriously, it is nice to see people answering the OP’s real question rather than picking apart the terminology.
Betsy
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stbruno
Guest
I wish our parish would have more dedicated ministers. Not that my spouse minds, but she is scheduled every weekend, and when she attends a mass that she is not scheduled for, she usually end up coming from the pews to assist when someone does not show up. It would be nice once in awhile for her to sit with our grown sons. As a deacon, I usually will assist at the mass I am attending.
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panther
Guest
I find being an EMHC to be a humbling privilege and a joyful ministry! It has really been a blessing to me, especially in how it has brought home the truth that each person coming forward is made in God’s image, is beloved by Him and is related to me in Christ’s Body.
I know there are a lot of people who hate the idea of EMHCs, and I can understand. However, in my parish it would be completely unwieldy to have only the priest and deacon administering Holy Communion, due to the hundreds of people who are at each Mass.
I know there are a lot of people who hate the idea of EMHCs, and I can understand. However, in my parish it would be completely unwieldy to have only the priest and deacon administering Holy Communion, due to the hundreds of people who are at each Mass.
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HeWillProvide
Guest
what’s the big deal with being an EMHC ?
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MrS
Guest
Those who think it is necessary in such great numbers show first read:
catholic-pages.com/mass/inhand.asp
for some perspective in how to receive .at all\
Then perhaps the comments like:
People are slipping! Where’s the person jumping in to say being a Eucharistic Minister is exactly like being a deacon or a priest, because those are the only real Eucharistic Ministers. Ohhhhh, you meant Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion! That’s different, then!
would show you that some (perhaps not the one who posted this) really don’t think handling the Lord is such a big deal. That is sad.
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1st_Exploration
Guest
You dispense the most precious substance in the universe to mankind.
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vocatio
Guest
I’m an EMCH. I do not want EMCHs…but if anyone’s going to do this, I want it done right, so I volunteer. I’m a former seminarian and my vocation was derailed. I do not have a “right” to be distributing the body or blood of our Lord. I am discerning a vocation to the diaconate and feel like this is where I belong. Only God will tell. I do this with the most reverence that anyone can show and am very careful. I get anoyed at people acting somehow like it’s their ministry and they sort of take over…its like the blessing of peolpe that do not receive…that drives me crazy and I do not really like to do it. That is proper from parents and we all get a priestly blessing at the end of Mass. I’m still trying to digest the illicit power point presentation with a screen placed in front of the altar set to music right after the homily. This should have been done in the cafetorium or worse case after Mass. Catholic Schools are important, but to say we have an obligation to send our children to Catholic schools is absolutely wrong. Catechesis begins in the home…the domestic church. We send our children to CCD because that’s what we can afford. But we don’t trust most Catholics…most are knuckleheads that teach heresy. We just went through RCIA, wife and son converted. Son wants to be a priest so far, so I want to make sure he and the other children learn correctly. Wife is really talented and defends the marginalization of CCD children in our parish…its a constant battle…shame on them.
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blackrobe
Guest
That’s it. I accepted the commission reluctantly in my parish and with the understanding that my assignment would be limited to serving hospitalized persons who would otherwise be deprived.
Three times I have agreed to “sub” when someone didn’t show up. On one of those occasions I was serving Mass and after I had received the Precious Blood the celebrant simply handed me the cup and purificator.
The last time I was asked, upon arriving at church, to fill in for someone who could not be there I looked around for another commissioned EMHC but none was to be found so I agreed. Everything was fine until the first person stepped up and I said “The Blood of Christ.” The import of what I was doing overwhelmed me unexpectedly and I began crying. I was able to maintain enough composure to complete the task but I’m sure people wondered what my problem was.
I don’t mean to say anything about the appropriateness of EMHC’s (I do have an opinion or two on that issue
), just that I find the experience emotionally intense.JSA+
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vocatio
Guest
I feel very much the same way. I fear giving communion in an unholy manner…not that I have tendencies like that. It’s just that I know that others feel much like me in that they would rather receive from priests and deacons only. I firmly believe that the bishops should appoint many more deacons just for this purpose… The Blessed Sacrament is so Holy that it should be handled by Holy Men…men called to the ministry of Christ as clerics. I am truly in love with the Lord and feel called to this ministry. But I would rather do it as an ordained minister, not a lay person. I have issues with women distributing and female altar servers, but never let on publicly. I’m not the authority. It’s just until I work through it I will have issue with it.
I personally do not have problems with married priests as long as they are men of but one wife [no annulments] with believing children. You know the description of elders and deacons as described in the bible. I feel that we are in need of married priests to help pull this modern family back to reality. A single man can hardly give a better counsel to those with the indelible mark of Holy Matrimony. After all I was very attracted to the Eastern Church more than the Western Church of my youth that horrified me with one illicit thing after another. My historical studies have convinced me that the early Church looked more like the Eastern Orthodox Church…eastern Catholic as well. I’ve always felt called to the priesthood, but very unworthy and had I not run into bad priests I would have probably been ordained.
We were told a horror story this morning in our own parish. This is promotion of the Catholic Schools weekend. I suspect that some of the non-Catholic students received the communion illicitly and threw it on the floor. YES!!! They found pieces of hosts broken all over the floor. It’s horrible and one of the reasons I want to be the one distributing to avoid giving to those that should not be receiving. We have limits but I watch very closely and frankly admire the reverence that many have in receiving Christ body, blood, soul and divinity. It’s truly inspiring. Some of them do need to wake up and give a better show of their desire for Christ in their posture, actions, reverence. But I seriously avoid judging. That is so wrong. I’m mainly talking about some of the Catholic School kids especially that seem uninterested in it. Most of the children are darling and very contrite. I love it when someone gets it…you can see it in their eyes. Others seem like they are just there. But overall I feel overwhelmed with joy to witness it.
I personally do not have problems with married priests as long as they are men of but one wife [no annulments] with believing children. You know the description of elders and deacons as described in the bible. I feel that we are in need of married priests to help pull this modern family back to reality. A single man can hardly give a better counsel to those with the indelible mark of Holy Matrimony. After all I was very attracted to the Eastern Church more than the Western Church of my youth that horrified me with one illicit thing after another. My historical studies have convinced me that the early Church looked more like the Eastern Orthodox Church…eastern Catholic as well. I’ve always felt called to the priesthood, but very unworthy and had I not run into bad priests I would have probably been ordained.
We were told a horror story this morning in our own parish. This is promotion of the Catholic Schools weekend. I suspect that some of the non-Catholic students received the communion illicitly and threw it on the floor. YES!!! They found pieces of hosts broken all over the floor. It’s horrible and one of the reasons I want to be the one distributing to avoid giving to those that should not be receiving. We have limits but I watch very closely and frankly admire the reverence that many have in receiving Christ body, blood, soul and divinity. It’s truly inspiring. Some of them do need to wake up and give a better show of their desire for Christ in their posture, actions, reverence. But I seriously avoid judging. That is so wrong. I’m mainly talking about some of the Catholic School kids especially that seem uninterested in it. Most of the children are darling and very contrite. I love it when someone gets it…you can see it in their eyes. Others seem like they are just there. But overall I feel overwhelmed with joy to witness it.
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scylla
Guest
I am an EMHC, and I don’t like it. I do it because they push EMHC’s at my Church and though it is wrong and born out of a desire to diminish the Priesthood of Jesus I do it out of fear of disrespect for Christ.
I ask forgiveness to Jesus, as I am not supposed to be doing this, but do it out of necessity as the Real Presence of Christ is implicitly denied in actions at my parish. So I do the best I can to foster proper respect and to make sure that profanation doesn’t occur.
I would much rather wait 5-10 minutes extra or just install an altar rail and get it done properly and quickly. But in these days of constant denial of the Holy Catholic Faith we do the best we can and wait for God to answer our prayers.
God Bless
Scylla
I ask forgiveness to Jesus, as I am not supposed to be doing this, but do it out of necessity as the Real Presence of Christ is implicitly denied in actions at my parish. So I do the best I can to foster proper respect and to make sure that profanation doesn’t occur.
I would much rather wait 5-10 minutes extra or just install an altar rail and get it done properly and quickly. But in these days of constant denial of the Holy Catholic Faith we do the best we can and wait for God to answer our prayers.
God Bless
Scylla
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MrS
Guest
God bless you… we will all keep praying
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japhy
Guest
I actually did consider answering the question that way (except that deacons aren’t Eucharistic ministers, only priests and bishops are). Because the worse our terminology is, the worse our understanding of a concept is. The name “extraordinary minister of Holy Communion” is a concise, accurate, and truthful description of the role: they are not ordinary ministers, and they are not administering the Eucharist (which is confected by a priest or bishop, and “ministered” – that is, offered – to God the Father).
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Cristiano
Guest
I am sorry to disagree with you but I think that only a priest or bishop can be an Eucharistic Minister. The priest and the deacon are also ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.
You have spoken the mind of a lot of us!!!
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baltobetsy
Guest
We don’t disagree. I was merely pointing out that we seem to have made some progress in our manners on the board. It’s perfectly fine to correct the terminology; in fact my own post was a roundabout attempt to do so. What’s not so fine is to do it in the sarcastic way that I demonstrated in my earlier post. How much kinder it is to answer the OP’s real question, then gently correct the terminology, don’t you think?
Betsy
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FLNonny
Guest
I am confused by some of the posts. I am an Eucharistic minister who refrains from using the “extrodinary…” term since it sounds odd to me. I give communion to the elderly at a nursing home each week and LOVE my “job.” I get more from my friends than they from me. Not one of my friends facing death has seemed fearful. They say their rosary prayers and seem to be ready to go. They have all lived long good lives (with the usual ups and downs) and each believes Heaven is a wonderful destination. In my diocese, someone has to recommend a person for this volunteer vocation (I apparently received 3 recommendations and 2 yrs later still don’t know who recommended me). The priest then considered me (without my knowledge) and the bishop later approved me after I underwent 3 hours of training. After having spent years visiting my father in a nursing home and having just become a Catholic in 2005 (with some great training), I feel confident I am capable of fulfilling my duties to these elderly Catholics. Each year I must undergo a Saturday of additional training with other Eucharistic ministers and once yearly we all meet as a group w/ the priest to discuss and questions or concerns. I recommend this “job” to anyone who LOVES not only his/her faith, but people! And I agree that nobody (especially those going into nursing homes) should take on this duty unless s/he plans to spend many years in the capacity. There are too many people who will befriend you and rely on you for you to cease your Catholic duty quickly.
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japhy
Guest
But the term “Eucharistic minister” – despite not sounding odd to you – is inaccurate. The term “extraordinary minister of Holy Communion” is the one the Church says should be used and it is the most accurate. The other titles people use for your particular ministry fall short.
It doesn’t hurt you at all to use the proper title.
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FLNonny
Guest
It doesn’t hurt you at all to use the proper title.
You are correct, but in all honesty the topic does not come up often; however, my calling cards (so my friends will know I tried to visit them) have the title “Eucharistic Minister” printed on them and I will use all 300 of them to save money. Sweating the small stuff seems rather silly when bringing communion to the Catholic faithful (and the sick Catholic faithful) is really why I am there. If you ask the aged and dying what they prefer to call me, they will tell you “Nancy.” They could care less about pomp and circumstance. But I shall take note of my official title for future card-printing.
You are correct, but in all honesty the topic does not come up often; however, my calling cards (so my friends will know I tried to visit them) have the title “Eucharistic Minister” printed on them and I will use all 300 of them to save money. Sweating the small stuff seems rather silly when bringing communion to the Catholic faithful (and the sick Catholic faithful) is really why I am there. If you ask the aged and dying what they prefer to call me, they will tell you “Nancy.” They could care less about pomp and circumstance. But I shall take note of my official title for future card-printing.
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