A Review

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy

Eucharist
Vicariate of ST. James the Apostle
 Documents of the Church
• Fidei Custos
• Immensae Caritatis
• Holy Communion and the Worship of the Holy
Eucharist
• Dominica Cenae
• Inaestimabile donum
• On Certain Questions Regarding the
Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful
 Fidei Custos
• An instruction on the creation of the Special
Ministry of Holy Communion
• Pope Paul VI
• 30 May 1969
•  should be selected from members of the faithful
who are of outstanding faith and character in the
life of the faithful, and must be mature in age
and have received proper training for such a
noble position.
 Immensae caritatis
• On Facilitating Reception Of Communion In
Certain Circumstances
• Sacred Congregation of Worship
• (1973)
 Immensae Caritatis
• 1. special ministers for distributing communion;

• 2. broader faculty to receive communion twice in a day;

• 3. mitigation of the eucharistic fast in favor of the sick

and the elderly;

• 4. devotion and reverence toward the blessed

sacrament whenever the host is placed in the hand.
Special ministers for distributing communion

• within Mass because of a great crowd of

people or some disability of the celebrant
• outside Mass when distance makes it difficult
to bring communion, especially as viaticum to
the sick in danger of death; or when the sheer
number of sick people, especially in hospitals
or similar institutions, requires several
ministers.
Special ministers for distributing communion

• a. whenever no priest, deacon, or acolyte is available

• whenever the same ministers are impeded from
administering communion because of another
pastoral ministry, ill-health, or old age
• whenever the number of faithful wishing to receive
communion is so great that the celebration of Mass
or the giving of communion outside Mass would take
too long
• mandatum
 to receive communion twice in a day

• 1. Ritual Masses in which the sacraments of

baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick,
orders, and marriage are administered, as well
as at Masses in which there is a first
communion
• 2. Masses for the consecration of a church or
an altar, for a religious profession, for the
conferral of a "canonical mission"
 to receive communion twice in a day

• 3. Masses for the dead on the occasion of the

funeral, news of the death, the final burial, or
the first anniversary
• 4. Principal Mass celebrated in a cathedral or
parish church on the solemnity of Corpus
Christi and on the day of a pastoral visitation;
at a Mass celebrated on the occasion of a
major religious superior's canonical visitation
to a particular religious house or chapter
 to receive communion twice in a day
• 5. Principal Mass at a eucharistic or Marian
congress, whether international or national,
regional or diocesan
• 6. Principal Mass of any kind of meeting,
pilgrimage, or people's mission
• 7. At the administration of viaticum, when
communion may be given to the members of
the household and the friends of the sick
person who are present
 to receive communion twice in a day

• 8. Over and above the cases already

mentioned, the local Ordinary is allowed to
grant for a single occasion the faculty to
receive communion twice on the same day
whenever, because of truly special
circumstances. a second reception is
warranted on the basis of this Instruction.
Mitigation Of The Eucharistic Fast In Favor Of
The Sick And The Elderly
• First, it remains firm and established that one
of the faithful to whom viaticum is
administered in danger of death is not bound
by any precept of fast
 Mitigation Of The Eucharistic Fast In Favor Of
The Sick And The Elderly
• reduced to approximately a quarter of an hour for:

• 1. the sick in health-care facilities or at home, even if they are not bedridden;

• 2. the faithful of advanced years, whether they are confined to their homes
because of old age or live in homes for the aged;

• 3. sick priests, even if not bedridden, and elderly priests, as regards both
celebrating Mass and receiving communion;

• 4. persons caring for, as well as the family and friends of, the sick and elderly
who wish to receive communion with them, whenever such persons cannot
keep the one-hour fast without inconvenience.
4. Devotion And Reverence Toward The Eucharist
In The Case Of Communion In The Hand

• Ever since the Instruction <Memoriale Domini> three

years ago, some of the conferences of bishops have been
requesting the Apostolic See for the faculty to allow
ministers distributing communion to place the eucharistic
bread in the hand of the faithful. The same Instruction
contained a reminder that "the laws of the Church and
the writings of the Fathers give ample witness of a
supreme reverence and utmost caution toward the
eucharist"12 and that this must continue. Particularly in
regard to this way of receiving communion, experience
suggests certain matters requiring careful attention.
 Holy Communion and Worship of the
Eucharist
• 1973
• Congregation of Divine Worship
• Repeats the Immensae Caritatis in different
wordings
 Dominicae coenae
• ON THE MYSTERY AND WORSHIP OF THE
EUCHARIST
• Pope John Paul II
• 1980
 Dominicae coenae
• While the Pope then adds that "it is obvious that the Church
can grant this faculty to those who are neither priests nor
deacons, as is the case with acolytes in the exercise of their
ministry, especially if they are destined for future ordination,
or with other lay people who are chosen for this to meet a
just need," the purpose of Dominicae coenae as a whole is to
stress the ineffable mystery of the Eucharist, the sublime and
unique dignity of the priesthood, and the urgency of
ordained men remaining faithful to the special tasks of their
state, above all regarding the worthy veneration and
handling of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
 Inaestimabile donum

• 1980
• Prepared by the Congregation of Divine
Worship
• Approved by Pope John Paul II
 Inaestimabile donum
• 10. Eucharistic Communion. Communion is a
gift of the Lord, given to the faithful through
the minister appointed for this purpose. It is
not permitted that the faithful should
themselves pick up the consecrated bread and
the sacred chalice, still less that they should
hand them from one to another.
 Inaestimabile donum
• 11. The faithful, whether religious or lay, who are
authorized as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist
can distribute Communion only when there is no priest,
deacon or acolyte, when the priest is impeded by illness
or advanced age, or when the number of the faithful
going to Communion is so large as to make the
celebration of Mass excessively long.[20] Accordingly, a
reprehensible attitude is shown by those priests who,
though present at the celebration, refrain from
distributing Communion and leave this task to the laity.
 Inaestimabile donum
• 12. The Church has always required from the
faithful respect and reverence for the
Eucharist at the moment of receiving it.
 On Certain Questions Regarding the
Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful

• August 15, 1997

• Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest
• Supplementary and Extraordinary Function
• To avoid creating confusion, certain practices
are to be avoided and eliminated where such
have emerged in particular Churches:
 Avoided and Eliminated
• extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart
from the other faithful as though concelebrants;

• — association with the renewal of promises made by

priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other
categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a
mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;

• — the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy

Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of
"a great number of the faithful".
• Apostolate to the Sick
• Assistance at Marriages
• The Minister of Baptism
• Leading the Celebration at Funerals
• Necessary Selection and Adequate Formation
 Highlights
• Immeasurable Love of God in the Eucharist
• Pastoral Care of the Church
• Source of Abuse: Clericalism and Anticlericalism
• Proper Response -We find excellent discussions of the problem in
John Paul II's Christifideles laici (1988) as well as in the 1997
document already discussed.John Paul II: "Full participation does
not mean that everyone does everything, since this would lead to
a clericalizing of the laity and a laicizing of the clergy; and this was
not what the Council had in mind. The liturgy, like the Church, is
intended to be hierarchical and polyphonic, respecting the
different roles assigned by Christ and allowing all the different
voices to blend in one great hymn of praise"
 Highlights
• Updating