Extraordinary Ministers should not be so ordinary

Catholic Reflector Chronicle/Vol. 1, Issue 11/Dec 29, 2024

At my parish, we use Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (“Eucharistic Minister” is a misnomer). The term "extraordinary" distinguishes these lay ministers from the "ordinary" ministers of Holy Communion, which are bishops, priests, and deacons. This means these “ministers” are not the norm, and it doesn’t mean they are greater than ordinary ministers. Our church building is a “church in the round,” meaning it is not of traditional Catholic architecture, but rather the auditorium-style blandness of the 70’s. There are multiple aisles shooting off from the main aisle leading to the altar.

On any given Sunday, there are between 8-9 Extraordinary Ministers, depending on whether or not our Deacon is present. It makes for a nice, quick flow of Holy Communion, and I hate it.

The Catholic Church in the United States began allowing laypersons to assist priests in distributing Holy Communion in 1971, in response to a request from American bishops.

In January of 1973, at the approval of Pope Paul VI, the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments (now known as the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) issued Immensae Caritatis*. This document established Special Ministers of the Eucharist who were enlisted to assist with distributing Holy Communion under certain conditions. Like many things post-Vatican II, the Church has taken it too far. *This was also a response to an earlier document issued in 1969, Fidei custos, which authorized laity to distribute, but wasn’t clear and led to confusion.

Immensae Caritatis allows the use of the laity to distribute the Eucharist in basically 4 areas:

• When the congregation is too large for the celebrant to distribute Communion efficiently (but does not define “efficiently, or “too large);

• When the priest is prevented by weakness, advanced age, or some other genuine reason;

• When the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the Mass would be unduly prolonged (does not give a time, so it is quite arbitrary, is it 10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour?) and;

• During home visits for those who are unable to attend Mass.***

***This is one concession of Immensae Caritatis that I fully agree with. We do not have enough Priests and Deacons to get to all of the homebound and sick that desire to receive Christ. Not to mention places where it is flat out dangerous for Priests to go among the faithful. This was a sound and necessary judgment.

I can only speak for my parish, and parishes I have attended. I am confident that none of the above conditions, with the exception of home visits, have ever applied. Unfortunately, Extraordinary Ministers have become so common, that most parishes accept them as a given, even when none are needed (which is most of the time).

But D.M., don’t you think it’s nice that the laity get to help in distributing the Eucharist? No, I don’t. And here is why:

The consecrated host and consecrated cup are the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Word made flesh, the Son of God. To give, to offer, to distribute Christ is a priestly task, a priestly office. It is not for any Joe-bag-of-donuts to do. The use of laity in this most holy action is to blur the fundamental distinction between priest and laity. I also think it has led to many liturgical abuses and abuses of the Eucharist. But don’t take my word for it, read the words of St. John Paul II on this issue:

... one must not forget the primary office of priests, who have been consecrated by their ordination to represent Christ the Priest: for this reason their hands, like their words and their will, have become the direct instruments of Christ. Through this fact, that is, as ministers of the Holy Eucharist, they have a primary responsibility for the sacred species, because it is a total responsibility: they offer the bread and wine, they consecrate it, and then distribute the sacred species to the participants in the assembly who wish to receive them. Deacons can only bring to the altar the offerings of the faithful and, once they have been consecrated by the priest, distribute them, How eloquent therefore, even if not of ancient custom, is the rite of the anointing of the hands in our Latin ordination, as though precisely for these hands a special grace and power of the Holy Spirit is necessary! To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained, one which indicates an active participation in the ministry of the Eucharist.

-Dominicae Cenae (February 24, 1980), Pope John Paul II

So let’s talk about those hands. A priest’s hands are consecrated. What does this mean? Consecrated is an adjective meaning having been made or declared sacred. To be Sacred is to be holy, divine, or set apart for God. So a priests hands are holy. They are set apart for God so that the priest may act In Persona Christi, in the Person of Christ. It is what enables them to consecrate the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. It is what allows them to absolve our sins. It is what allows them to be the vessels of Christ on this earth. Through their hands, it is Christ doing these things, not the priests themselves.

Now think about your own hands. Look at them. Think about what you do with them, what you have done with them. You wipe your nose with them, you wipe other things with them, you cough into them, sneeze into them and pick your nose with them. You make rude and lewd gestures with them. Yes, I know, ordained priests do these things too, but their hands are made holy, their hands are set apart. Are yours?

Before the consecration, the priest washes his hands with water from a small basin called a “lavabo.” This gesture represents the priest’s desire for interior purification. While washing, the priest quietly prays “Lava me, Domine” (Wash me, Lord). What do the Extraordinary ministers do? “Sploit, sploit.” Hand-sanitizer. And not even the good stuff like Purell, but whatever was cheapest in the supply catalog. I think it’s a sacrilege.

Now let’s look at attire, exterior AND interior. If you are an Extraordinary Minister, how are you preparing yourself to distribute Christ? Are you dressed reverently, or are you wearing something you would wear to a game or a movie? The priest is wearing vestments, what are you wearing? Two weeks ago, during Advent, I attended a Saturday Vigil Mass, and one of the Extraordinary Ministers was wearing a hooded gray sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. And this was a man in his 70’s! You can’t tell me he doesn’t know better. He had no business distributing Christ dressed like that, in that place, at that time. I didn’t know him, and I’m sure he’s a great guy, but c’mon man.

Are you internally prepared to distribute Christ? This is infinitely more important than how you are dressed. Have you been to Confession? Are you living a Catholic life? Are you contemplating what you are doing? Do you even believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist? If not, then please do not do it!

Now let’s look at HOW you are distributing Christ. Are you elevating Him? Are you proclaiming “Body of Christ.” Are you doing it with awe and wonder and reverence? If not, don’t do it! Some time ago, a parishioner with walking difficulties was overlooked until the last minute. An Extraordinary Minister took the Eucharist, held it in their hand like a potato chip or something, and nonchalantly walked to the back to distribute it, swinging their arms along the way. It was like they were bringing someone a tissue. Now I don’t think they meant disrespect, they just didn’t think about it. And that is the problem! Please, think about what you are doing and WHO it is you are giving.

But D.M., what can be done to change any of this? Our parish has done this ever since I can remember.

1. Follow the actual guidelines of Immensae Caritatis and subsequent documents. I think most parishes would find that they don’t actually need Extraordinary Ministers on a regular basis. Don’t treat it as a given. It’s not parish counsel or donut duty.

2. Have your priest do the training for the Extraordinary Ministers. Don’t just leave it up to Betsy or Jack who have done it forever. Have your priest explain the how and why of the importance of what is being done.

3. Stop using the term “Eucharistic Minister.” Get it out of the bulletins. It’s not the right term, and further confuses the role.

4. Apply a dress code. Men should wear jackets and ties, women should wear the equivalent, whether pants or dress. If you don’t look like you think what you are doing is important, other laity are not going to think what you are doing is important.

5. Strongly encourage Extraordinary Ministers to go to Confession on days they are distributing Christ.

6. Stop letting the laity up on the inner sanctuary near the altar. They aren’t supposed to be up there (altar servers excepted). Altar rails used to help with this, which leads to….

7. If your church has altar rails, use them. A parish that uses altar rails has an efficient and reverent way to distribute the Eucharist, no Extraordinary Ministers needed. If your church doesn’t have altar rails, get them. My wife has asked for them for years, we’re still asking.

8. Finally, (and this could be a whole other topic), do not allow Extraordinary Ministers to bless anyone! They are not supposed to. This has to do with the spiritual hierarchy established by God, and further blurs the lines between laity and priest. Spiritual hierarchy goes something like this: God has hierarchy over Bishops, Bishops have hierarchy over Priests, Priests have hierarchy over Deacons and laity, husbands and fathers have hierarchy over wives and children. Dave from church has no hierarchy over you or your children. It is disordered for him to bless you or your child as if he were ordained, and it can actually be spiritually detrimental. Look up what Father Chad Ripperger has to say about this.

Fellow Catholics, HOW you are given Christ, and WHO is giving Christ to you is important! Demand proper disposition and reverence. I personally only receive from the priest. Yes, yes, I know, the Church allows for Extraordinary Ministers, but the whole point of this article is that this permission is not being implemented correctly. I’m not going against the Church or challenging Rome here, but there are good ways to do something, and not so good ways to do something. That is all I am saying. I am not going to receive our most Blessed Sacrament from a guy in a sweatshirt and jeans, I’m just not, and neither should you. We should receive in a worthy manner, and likewise, distribute in a worthy manner. If Mass took 15 minutes longer to do this, so be it. You don’t have anywhere on earth to be that is more important than being in Mass.

Like I say in my disclaimer, I have done just about everything wrong that a person can do. For a short time, years ago, I was an Extraordinary Minister. It never felt right to me. Once I looked into it, and thought about it, I just did not want to do it anymore. However, I would gladly and with reverence and honor, bring it to those who cannot attend Mass, but I would not throw the pyx (the container holding the Eucharist) into my pocket or purse like it was a pack of tic-tacs.

Below is a wonderful video that I think is an amazing interpretation of what is going on at Mass. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. Then you may have a better understanding of why How and Who distributes (and how we receive coming January 12) Christ is so important. Turn up the volume a bit, it will give you chills. And don’t forget to check out the scripture verses and quotes below as well.

Scripture to read and consider:

John 6:54-57: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

1 Corinthians 11:26: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Acts 2:42-43: They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

1 Corinthians 10:17: Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

Issue Quote(s): Justin Martyr

“For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).

Pope St. John Paul II:

Only out of true necessity is there to be recourse to the assistance of extraordinary ministers in the celebration of the Liturgy. Such recourse is not intended for the sake of a fuller participation of the laity but rather, by its very nature, is supplementary and provisional. Furthermore, when recourse is had out of necessity to the functions of extraordinary ministers, special urgent prayers of intercession should be multiplied that the Lord may soon send a Priest for the service of the community and raise up an abundance of vocations to sacred Orders. -Redemptionis Sacramentum

Upcoming Topics:

Jan. 5: Man Up: Reviving the Masculinity of Priests

Jan. 12: Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape." Communion in the hand or on the tongue?

Jan. 19: It’s fun to stay at the YMCA: Gestures and postures at Mass

Jan. 26: Evangelism is not someone else’s job: Being an Evangelical Catholic

Disclaimer from the Editor: I have done just about everything wrong that a Catholic can do. I was born a Catholic, and by the Grace of God, managed to remain one. I hope these writings educate and edify you. I will make mistakes, and I am likely to offend a few folks along the way. That is not my intention. If you wish to discuss anything written or expressed in this newsletter, please reach out to the email address below. Questions, comments and rude remarks are welcome, one and all. And remember, if you are a practicing Catholic, practice harder!

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