My wife’s in the hospital right now recovering from surgery which, thankfully, went well.
Yesterday, a conservatively dressed older man came into her room and asked if she would like to pray and receive Holy Communion, which she did. But he wasn’t a priest. Until yesterday I was unaware that a lay person could do this under any circumstances. I’ve been to mass a few times with my wife, and notice that parishioners sometimes assist by handing out the wafers and such, but there’s still a priest presiding.
I’m just curious, can someone explain what the rules are? I think my wife was surprised too, and she was raised Catholic.
I suppose a Smart Person will be along shortly, but I do not think anyone can perform a Sacrament except a priest. A Deacon can do the work (moving around and passing things out), but only when a Priest is present and providing supervision.
This is not true, at least not in this generalization. Any person (he/she doesn’t even have to be Catholic) can even administer baptism under very special circumstances (basically: The candidate is seriously ill and will probably die before a priest arrives for baptism), if he/she has “the right intention,” i.e. the intention of performing baptism according to Catholic rite.
With regards to communion (eucharist), however, the Code of Canon Law is pretty clear:
Deacons are not priests in the sense of this provision.
Maybe in the case of your wife, the wafer had been consecrated before by the priest in the hospital’s chapel, and the layman who handed it out was one of the assistants you mentioned, walking through the hospital to administer eucharist to patients who had not been able to attend the mass.
This might be a silly question, but are you sure the “conservatively dressed older man” was catholic? Perhaps he was a minister of another denomination.
I can remember during some masses in my youth the priest would do the consecration, then distribute some Host to two or three lay ministers, who were going to visit the hospitals and home-bound parishioners to offer communion.
In other words, the priest has already performed the Transubstantiation (try spelling that when you’re drunk!). The lay minister is only delivering the Eucharist.
jayjay has it right. Given the shortage of priests and deacons in the U.S., it is very common for commissioned lay people to assist as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, both at Mass and delivering to the sick. In dioceses where I’ve served, the commisioning involves being recommended by the parish priest and then being appointed for a set period of time (currently three years in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.)
The Hosts are always consecrated by a priest (or bishop), and when anybody (clergy or lay) takes communion to the sick it is carried in a special vessel called a pyx. If the gentleman you saw produced the Host from a small circular metal container, that was a pyx.
Echoing what was said above, a lay person can “administer” Communion, in the sense of distrubuting already consecrated bread or wine, in the context of the Mass or outside of Mass to the sick or homebound (only the bread usually travels ). A lay person would never perform the actual consecration themself.
You mentioned going to Mass with your wife; is she a practicing Catholic? Would this be on her paperwork? If it really was Catholic communion, I think they would only come ask people “eligible”.
Only a Priest or Bishop may “celebrate Mass” – i.e., say the prayer of Consecration that sets apart bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Christ. (In the absence of a priest, a Deacon may lead the Liturgy of the Word and preside over the distribution of communion from the “reserved sacrament” – pre-consecrated elements kept in reserve.)
Ordained clergy – bishops, priests, and deacons – are the “ordinary ministers of communion.” In the absence of sufficient ordained clergy to efficiently communicate the faithful, laymen may be “extraordinary ministers of communion.” This is very common in the U.S. and I believe Canada.
There is a longstanding tradition of taking set-aside communion after the service to members of the congregation who are infirm or ill. Traditionally the priest did this, but it is now a common part of what the “extraordinary ministers” do.
It’s true that only a priest can perform the Eucharistic sacrament – the prayers that turn the bread into a consecrated host. But after that, any person can be allowed to distribute it to people.
In my mothers (large) parish, they have a dozen or more lay people who help distribute the bread & wine each Sunday at church. And there are others who distribute it to parishioners in the hospital & nursing homes.
But they are basically just messengers, delivering hosts that were made into communion hosts by the priest performing the sacrament of Eucharist.
Catholic? S/he doesn’t even need to be a Christian. As long as the proper formula is used (or atempted?) and it’s his/her intent to baptize the subject it’s considered valid. And contrary to popular belief nuns aren’t able to give the Last Rites. They can pray with the dying, but only a priest can actually administer the sacrament.
Just to agree with what others have said: Only a priest may perform the sacrament, but anyone can (with permission) distribute it, and it’s very routine for lay folks to do so. I’m a Eucharistic minister myself, and I can assure you that I am not in any way, shape, or form ordained. I just had to attend a half-hour training session with the priest and the other new Eucharistic ministers, and every few weeks, the church’s secretary e-mails us and tells us who’s on duty each Sunday.
Each sacrament has its own rules on who can/should perform it, and many sacraments have a variety of folks involved who aren’t actually performing the sacrament. As Schnitte mentioned, a priest ought to be the one to perform baptisms, but anyone can if needed. And it’s almost unheard of for a priest to perform the sacrament of matrimony: The priest just presides over the ceremony, but the sacrament itself is performed by the folks getting married.
No, he mentioned there were fifty or so Catholic patients in the hospital on any given day, so he was usually busy. By conservatively dressed I mean a dark suit that looked much like what you often see a priest wear, minus the collar.
Also, the prayers sounded like what I recall from Masses I’ve been to, and he crossed himself–do they do that in any non-Catholic sects?
I think they do, but I don’t think that any other denomination brings Communion to hospitals & shut-ins. Taking communion (well, attending Mass, but sometimes that’s not feasible) is a weekly obligation for Catholics, which is why they have the Eucharistic Ministers who can go out & distribute it for people who can’t make it to Mass.
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus
Also, the prayers sounded like what I recall from Masses I’ve been to, and he crossed himself–do they do that in any non-Catholic sects?[/QUOTE]
Actually, Anglicans / Episcopalians, Orthodox and at least some branches of the Lutheran church cross themselves. The communion liturgy is also pretty similar to that of the RC liturgy.
When I was subbing in different churches as an organist a number of years ago, I had no problem following Episcopal, Orthodox or Lutheran services, as they were pretty close to the Roman Catholic mass that I grew up with. Much of the music was even the same.
I’m not sure why you would assume that Communion wouldn’t be brought to hospitals or shut-ins by people of other denominations. At any rate, I’ve seen a “kit” owned and used by a United Methodist pastor for exactly that purpose.
In case that sentence is ambiguous, the pastor was displaying it as a tool of his trade, not administering communion at the time I saw it, and I know nothing about any non-clergy “Eucharistic Ministers” in the United Methodist church. I just got probably unreasonably bugged by the quote above.
Yeah, it bothered me too, and I couldn’t put my finger on just why. But I think you nailed it. Communion is important to most Christians, central in the worship of some (Catholics, Orthodox, most Lutherans and Anglicans, IIRC most Discioles, etc.). To be charitable (and we’re obliged to do that when possible), I think Sarah was speaking of her own ignorance (not an insult… the “I don’t know of any…” statement should be taken at face value), not criticizing.
Episcopalians have similar kits, which I saw in use the last time my dad was in the hospital. I don’t know what position exactly the gentleman administering it held in the church but he wasn’t a priest.
Yes, Polycarp…I truly have never heard of any other denomination being brought communion. I certainly did not mean anything by my statement other than that. I’m sorry if what I said caused any offense.
). A lay person would never perform the actual consecration themself.