Now that the Priest has received Communion, it’s our turn. First of all, you may have noticed a few people from the congregation get up from their pews at some point between the Rite of Peace and the Priest receiving Communion and move to some spot near, in, or around the Sanctuary. These people are called the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.
Ideally, the people who should FIRST be distributing Communion are priests, and then deacons. In reference to the Eucharist, these guys are the “Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion” because they are ordained through the Sacrament of Holy Orders with the mission of doing so in one form or another. Let’s say for argument’s sake that your church is a small, modest, country church, and you have very few members of the congregation, one priest, and one deacon at Mass. It might be easy to have everyone receive the Body of Christ from one ciborium (go back and read You Never Even Call Me By My Name if you just made a completely puzzled expression at the sight of that word) from the priest and the Blood of Christ from one chalice ministered by the deacon. No issue here. Now let’s imagine you’re at an ordination, and there are about 800 members of the congregation, a bishop or two, about 3 or 4 dozen priests, and another few dozen deacons in attendance. No shortage of Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion here, but there are way too many people in the congregation to think that one ciborium and one chalice are going to cut it. There’s absolutely no problem with multiple ciboria (yeah, that’s the right ending) and multiple chalices. These should be ministered by priests and deacons if at all possible, but should be carefully handled so that you don’t have an absurd number of “cups & bowls” scattered throughout the church. We’re here to experience the miracle of the Risen Christ here…not get in and out as quickly as humanly possible just to satisfy our “Sunday obligation.” If it takes more than a few minutes to distribute communion, that’s fine. It just shouldn’t take so long that people are distracted from prayer because of how slowly this part of the celebration is moving.
Now here’s that issue that MOST churches face: average-sized congregation (200-500), one priest, and no deacon. It’s obviously not feasible for the priest to distribute both kinds of Communion to everyone by himself. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) says:
The priest may be assisted in the distribution of Communion by other priests who happen to be present. If such priests are not present and there is a very large number of communicants, the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, e.g., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may depute suitable faithful for this single occasion. (GIRM 162)
Redemptionis Sacramentum, an instruction on the proper way to celebrate Mass in the Roman Rite issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2004 also addresses lay (not ordained bishops, priests, or deacons) people as ministers of holy Communion by saying, “Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of the law.” (RS 88)
So let’s say you’re at that “average” parish, and you need 5 or 6 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in addition to the priest celebrant/Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion. When should these Extraordinary Ministers go up? You might be surprised to find that your parish isn’t doing things exactly “by the book” (“the book” being “the GIRM”). The GIRM says that Extraordinary Ministers “should not approach the altar before the priest has received Communion.” (GIRM 162) Some might argue that going up and standing 10 feet or so away from the altar does not count as “approaching” the altar, because there’s still a significant distance between them and the altar…but come on, we know what’s going on.
Many (if not most) of you are probably sitting there reading this and are thinking, “What’s the big deal? Is God going to strike the entire congregation dead because the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are a couple feet closer to the altar than they should be before the priest receives Communion?” Ok, I’ll grant you: probably not. But let me spin that back on you: Am I proving that I’m not doing anything wrong just because God doesn’t “strike me dead” after I punch someone in the face? No. Maybe God’s not entirely concerned with the smaller details of the Catholic Liturgy, but remember…we’re Catholic. The word catholic means, “universal.” One of the most amazing things about the Catholic Church is that it’s the same wherever you go in the world. Different languages, sure, but the same basic elements are there in their proper orders. There are slight differences between countries and cultures, sure. But there has to be a line when “this is the right way” meets “this is good enough.” Who decides that line? You? Me?? Well, I know it’s definitely not me, and it’s probably not you, either. Who does, then? Well, it’s those guys in the black outfits with the white collars. What makes them so special? How about an indelible mark on their souls? Good enough reason? Don’t know what an indelible mark is? We’ll get to the rest of the sacraments soon enough, and we’ll explain that during our discussion on Holy Orders. For now, how about we just look at the fact that those guys have studied WAY more than the average Catholic, and devote their entire lives to learning more about our faith and why we do what we do, and what God is asking of us in our lives in today’s world. Plus, they’ve got the backing of 2,000 years of learning, conversation, reading, reflecting, and most importantly, prayer to back up the decisions they make…much more impressive than my 28 years here on earth so far…especially since I couldn’t talk for the first year, and couldn’t really understand what was going on in church for the first 10 or so of those years. So let’s say I’ve got a solid 18 years of understanding what’s happening in Church. I didn’t really care until I was about 19, so I’ve really only got about 11 solid years of understanding AND truly caring. 11 years of sporadic questioning and finding answers…or…2,000 years of nothing BUT questioning and finding answers? I don’t know about you, but I’m siding with the Church on this one. So let’s just go with it.
There’s one more thing to mention in this post, though. Although some things are pointedly spelled out in the GIRM, one thing is spelled out in the first two paragraphs of Chapter IX of the GIRM:
386. The renewal of the Roman Missal carried out in our time in accordance with the decrees of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council has taken great care that all the faithful may display in the celebration of the Eucharist that full, conscious, and active participation that is required by the very nature of the Liturgy and to which the faithful, in virtue of their status as such, have a right and duty.
However, in order that such a celebration may correspond all the more fully to the norms and the spirit of the Sacred Liturgy, certain further adaptations are set out in this Instruction and in the Order of Mass and entrusted to the judgment either of the Diocesan Bishop or of the Conferences of Bishops.
387. The Diocesan Bishop, who is to be regarded as the High Priest of his flock, from whom the life in Christ of his faithful in some sense derives and upon whom it depends, must promote, regulate, and be vigilant over the liturgical life in his diocese. It is to him that in this Instruction is entrusted the regulating of the discipline of concelebration (cf. nos. 202, 374) and the establishing of norms regarding the function of serving the Priest at the altar (cf. no. 107), the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds, and the construction and ordering of churches (cf. no. 291). It is above all for him, moreover, to nourish the spirit of the Sacred Liturgy in the Priests, Deacons, and faithful.
So while the GIRM gives the formal path to follow, the bishop is the authority in each diocese and has the ability to make minor changes, or make official decisions on normal procedures for items that have multiple options.
Man, I love soapboxes. Next post we’ll talk about OUR participation in receiving Communion and what we should/shouldn’t do between the time we get up from our kneelers to the time we get back in the pew.
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