Sep 6, 2011
I have a question about Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion coming up on the altar before receiving Communion. “Legal” or not?
Not legal to come forward before the priest has received Holy Communion. Here’s what the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) no. 162 points out:
“These ministers should not approach the altar before the priest has received Communion, and they are always to receive from the hands of the priest celebrant the vessel containing either species of the Most Holy Eucharist for distribution to the faithful.”
And this precision of the GIRM simply develops what was stated by the Holy See in 1997: “To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches:— extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart from the other faithful as though concelebrants.”
But perhaps the more interesting question is why is this the case? The use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion is intended to be just that: extraordinary. However, this practice has become so common in our country, that everyone considers it ordinary, which may in fact lead to a diminishing of our high regard for the Holy Eucharist, not because the priest is holier, but because he has been consecrated for this task, literally set aside for this task. For that reason, he dresses in an entirely different and ceremonial way for the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
It seems to me that the most compelling reason to use extraordinary ministers is for the sake of efficiency and reducing the time spent in the distribution of Holy Communion so that the Mass “doesn’t drag on for more than an hour.” Personally, I think it is fine for the Mass to “drag on” since Our Lord’s Passion on the Cross “dragged on” for three hours. Moreover, if we are interested in squeezing the Mass into 60 minutes on Sunday, it would be better to compress the hymns and Responsorial Psalm, than to compress the sacred moment of Holy Communion.