qfnol31 Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 (edited) I think this is a good place to post this, if not, feel free to move it. Did you know that Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion have been renamed to that in Redemptionis Sacramentum, as they felt that Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist was giving too much of a name to those who are Extraordinary Ministers? The other thing that goes along with this, and why I posted in here, is do you think that they're excessively used today? I know in my parish we have about 26 each Mass. Before anyone thinks I'm an EMHC hater (I've been accused of this before), I just wanted to clarify that I am an EMHC. What are ya'lls opinions? Edited June 18, 2004 by qfnol31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 (edited) In actual fact, the CDW Instruction [u]Redemptionis Sacramentorum[/u] is a document designed specifically to reassert the already existing liturgical norms of the Church. It has issued no "new" norms or titles, including when it speaks about the "Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion." From the very beginning of the dispensation given by the Vatican allowing this practice, the official title of a lay member of the Christian faithful who is temporarily deputed for this function, in accord with canon 230 § 3 of the [u]Code of Canon Law[/u], has been "Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion." This title is rooted in the fact that the person temporarily deputed for this "ministry" is deputed only for the distribution of Holy Communion when there is a lack of sacred ministers, either during the liturgical celebration itself, or more commonly, in order to take communion to the sick. It is an abuse of the practice to have members of the lay faithful distributing Holy Communion every Sunday, or even worse, every day. But from the very beginning, certain persons in the Catholic Church in the United States and other Western countries have tried to blur the [i]essential[/i] distinction between the Ministerial Priesthood of the ordained priest and the Baptismal Priesthood of the lay faithful. The [i]International Commission on English in the Liturgy[/i] (ICEL) has, from the very beginning, tried to "translate" the canonical title for this role in a way that would make this "ministry" seem like a normal and stable function of the laity. This is contrary to the original purpose of the dispensation permitting the practice in the first place. In order to undermine the canonical terminology used in the Church, ICEL often translated the title as "Special Ministers of Holy Communion," or as "Special Ministers of the Eucharist," and even worse, as "Eucharistic Ministers," which is a title reserved solely to bishops and priests, since they alone can confect the Eucharist. Even a deacon is not a "Eucharistic Minister"; instead, he is an "Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion." Any title that uses or contains the phrases "Eucharistic Minister" or "Minister of the Eucharist," canonically implies that the person so named can celebrate Mass and confect the Eucharist. Thus, even the title "Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist," which has been used by some people of late, is improper, because canonically and theologically it implies that the person concerned can celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy. As sad as it is to say it, there are people who want to blur the [i]essential[/i] distinction between the ordained priesthood and the lay priesthood. In doing this they are trying to [i]clericalize[/i] the laity and in the process they hope to weaken the Ministerial Priesthood, and of course all faithful Catholics should resist this unlawful and theologically unsound attempt to manipulate the Church's liturgy. Edited June 18, 2004 by Apotheoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellenita Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 [quote]I know in my parish we have about 26 each Mass.[/quote] :freak: You don't mean distributing Holy Communion at every Mass do you? I'm sorry, there wasn't a smilie showing someone who had fainted at the information!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qfnol31 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 [quote name='Ellenita' date='Jun 18 2004, 07:21 AM'] :freak: You don't mean distributing Holy Communion at every Mass do you? [/quote] Yeah, there's 26 EMHCs at each Mass distributing Holy Communion. We have about 1400 people at each Mass, but it's still a lot in my opinion... Oh, this is plus the priest and the deacon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dUSt Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 We have 20 EMCs at every mass, plus the priest and deacon. After studying the layout of my Church, I've concluded that we could easily get by with only 12. What can I do? I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to provide letter "templates" that people can download and e-mail/mail to their local parishes. Each letter would be a simple, short, charitable inquiry of why specific liturgical abuses are occuring at that parish. We could have a separate letter for each type of abuse--properly formatted for maximum effect, and documented with proper teachings from Rome. What do y'all think about this idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 We usually have a few (between 3 and 5 I think) and honestly, I think thats excessive, too. I don't think its necessary to have that many helpers, they are called "Extraordinary" for a reason. Christmas and Easter are one thing, but every Sunday or weekday... We have a good sized parish, but I still don't think that its necessary (so we have to wait a minute or two longer to receive the Eucharist, big deal!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcceNovaFacioOmni Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 The Church I'm at right now has 7 Eucharistic ministers, and I would guess about 900 people at each mass. We have four lines, each with two ministers (one for body, the other for blood), except at one of them, the priest distributes the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qfnol31 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 [quote name='IcePrincessKRS' date='Jun 18 2004, 12:53 PM'] ...they are called "Extraordinary" for a reason. [/quote] I am asked to serve often at school, and I tell them no many times because of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnanc Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 at each Mass we also have up to 16 that distribute Holy Communion along with 2 priests usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Putnam Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 [quote name='qfnol31' date='Jun 18 2004, 12:35 PM']Yeah, there's 26 EMHCs at each Mass distributing Holy Communion. We have about 1400 people at each Mass, but it's still a lot in my opinion... Oh, this is plus the priest and the deacon.[/quote] Holy Echo, Charlie Brown, Exactly how big is that church of yours anyway? 1400 people at Mass? Can even St. Patricks in New York hold such a congregation? Whew! And by the way, I have nothing against Extraordinary Ministers that handle the Eucharist for communion; I just choose not to be one in my more conservative stance... God bless, PAX Bill+†+ [i]Regina Angelorum, ora pro nobis![/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasJis Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 I've been asked a number of times to be an EEM, but like Bill, I won't. I think they are over-used and under-catechized. Too many are too irreverent, excessively used, obtrusive, etc. I too belong to a very large parish and we use about 16 EEMS, including the Deacon, Acolytes, Seminarians, etc. It takes about 10-15 minutes for Communion, and we always have both species, so we need EEM's. I think that the # should be cut down, the standards elevated, more catechesis, etc. We currently have enough time for 2 long songs during communion, and the priests are good about another few minutes of sacred silence with just a piano after the last of the communion. We can sing 3 songs. Our music programs are pretty good, so music selection is good. I tend to go to LifeTeen masses, so it's very, very rare for people to skate out early, even though the mass is Always more than an hour long. I wonder what the 9 am High Mass is like and what those people would say with a mass that lasts almost 90 minutes every Sunday. There is logistics involved too. We have Masses in the main Church and in the Chapel simultaneously. So many people, parking is a huge problem. My guess is over 2.000 people attend the masses, and then you have to consider people coming for the next masses while these masses are dismissed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 (edited) [quote name='jasJis' date='Jun 18 2004, 03:43 PM'] I've been asked a number of times to be an EEM, but like Bill, I won't. I think they are over-used and under-catechized. Too many are too irreverent, excessively used, obtrusive, etc. [/quote] This is part of why I have a problem with parishes that have so many. With a parish the size of yours it makes a little mroe sense to have EEMs every Sunday, but I know of parishes that are really tiny and have EEMs when its totally unnecessary. (even with the size of your parish I don't know that its necessary to have that many, but since I don't attend there I can't really judge that...) Edited June 18, 2004 by IcePrincessKRS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qfnol31 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 I know that at our parish, it takes half a song for the EMHCs to receive themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qfnol31 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 [quote name='William Putnam' date='Jun 18 2004, 02:22 PM'] 1400 people at Mass? Can even St. Patricks in New York hold such a congregation? [/quote] We have about 7000 people who attend over 6 different Masses, some larger, and some smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 I go to a rather small Ruthenian Catholic parish, and we have at most about 200 communicants each Sunday. The priest alone distributes communion under both kinds on a golden spoon by intinction and it takes about 5 minutes for him to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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