In 1997 the Holy See issued an important document, unusual in its form and provenance in that it was signed by eight dicasteries, or departments of the Roman Curia.
Ecclesia de mysterio approved by the Sovereign Pontiff who ordered that it be issued in forma specifica, which gives it even greater weight. It contains legal provisions in order to correct abuses.
You will have to look for this document on the website of the Holy See under the Pontifical Council for the Laity. You won’t find it easily by looking on the website under the other dicasteries or by using their so-called “search” feature.
As this document itself states:
Ecclesia de mysterio, among other things, seeks to correct the abuses of the laity and of the priesthood, both, which have crept in over time because of theological problems resulting from, for example, the terms “minister” and “ministry”.
Here the titles of the provisions:
I am not making this up. Go look for yourselves. My emphases.
Of course, the Bishops of England and Wales will be tripping over in their haste to implement Ecclesia de mysterio........hang on....a pig has just flown past my window!
- Congregation for the Clergy
- Pontifical Council for the Laity
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
- Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
- Congregation for Bishops
- Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
- Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
- Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts
Ecclesia de mysterio approved by the Sovereign Pontiff who ordered that it be issued in forma specifica, which gives it even greater weight. It contains legal provisions in order to correct abuses.
In the light of the aforementioned principles, remedies, based on the normative discipline of the Church, and deemed opportune to correct abuses which have been brought to the attention of our Dicasteries, are hereby set forth.It is called in English, “Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priests“.
You will have to look for this document on the website of the Holy See under the Pontifical Council for the Laity. You won’t find it easily by looking on the website under the other dicasteries or by using their so-called “search” feature.
As this document itself states:
The scope of this present document is simply to provide a clear, authoritative response to the many pressing requests which have come to our Dicasteries from Bishops, Priests and Laity seeking clarification in the light of specific cases of new forms of “pastoral activity” of the non-ordained on both parochial and diocesan levels.Remember, eight dicasteries of the Curia signed onto this document.
Though being born in very difficult and emergency situations and even initiated by those who sought to be genuinely helpful in the pastoral moment, certain practices have often been developed which have had very serious negative consequences and have caused the correct understanding of true ecclesial communion to be damaged. These practices tend to predominate in certain areas of the world and even within these, a great deal of variation can be found.
Ecclesia de mysterio, among other things, seeks to correct the abuses of the laity and of the priesthood, both, which have crept in over time because of theological problems resulting from, for example, the terms “minister” and “ministry”.
Here the titles of the provisions:
- Need for an Appropriate Terminology
- The Ministry of the Word
- The Homily
- The Parish Priest and the Parish
- The Structures of Collaboration in the Particular Church
- Liturgical Celebrations
- Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest
- The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
- The Apostolate to the Sick
- Assistance at Marriages
- The Minister of Baptism
- Leading the Celebration at Funerals
- Necessary Selection and Adequate Formation
I am not making this up. Go look for yourselves. My emphases.
Article 8Ends/................
The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
The non-ordained faithful already collaborate with the sacred ministers in diverse pastoral situations since “This wonderful gift of the Eucharist, which is the greatest gift of all, demands that such an important mystery should be increasingly better known and its saving power more fully shared”.(95)
Such liturgical service is a response to the objective needs of the faithful especially those of the sick and to those liturgical assemblies in which there are particularly large numbers of the faithful who wish to receive Holy Communion.
§ 1. The canonical discipline concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion must be correctly applied so as to avoid generating confusion. The same discipline establishes that the ordinary minister of Holy Communion is the Bishop, the Priest and the the Deacon.(96) Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are those instituted as acolytes and the faithful so deputed in accordance with Canon 230, § 3.(97)
A non-ordained member of the faithful, in cases of true necessity, may be deputed by the diocesan bishop, using the appropriate form of blessing for these situation, to act as an extraordinary minister to distribute Holy Communion outside of liturgical celebrations ad actum vel ad tempus or for a more stable period. In exceptional cases or in un foreseen circumstances, the priest presiding at the liturgy may authorize such ad actum.(98)
§ 2. Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion.(99) They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion. (100)
This function is supplementary and extraordinary (101) and must be exercised in accordance with the norm of law. It is thus useful for the diocesan bishop to issue particular norms concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, in complete harmony with the universal law of the Church, should regulate the exercise of this function in his diocese. Such norms should provide, amongst other things, for matters such as the instruction in eucharistic doctrine of those chosen to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the meaning of the service they provide, the rubrics to be observed, the reverence to be shown for such an august Sacrament and instruction concerning the discipline on admission to Holy Communion.
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;
— association with the renewal of promises made by priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;
— the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of “a great number of the faithful”.
Of course, the Bishops of England and Wales will be tripping over in their haste to implement Ecclesia de mysterio........hang on....a pig has just flown past my window!
Yup. And this was all reiterated by Redemptionis Sacramentum in 2002:
ReplyDelete[158.] Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged.[259] This, however, is to be understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.
I think it must have been the manifest and total failure of these documents to have *any* effect on liturgical practice which convinced Cardinal Ratzinger he needed to take a different approach: the approach of persuasion and the empowerment of grass-roots conservatives. His books exemplify the first prong of this strategy and Summorum Pontificum and Anglicanorum Coetibus the second.
We have a EMHC in weekday Mass, all the time, even when there are half a dozen people there. This is one of the reasons I stopped attending weekday Mass, as well as the chit chat, the sitting around the altar in the side chapel, and the "service of the word and Holy Communion" services. Some of our EHMC have made their opposition to Church teaching clear, and Fr either doesn't know, or doesn't want to be judgemental.
ReplyDeleteAloha Richard. Thanks for posting about EMHC and Mass. My mom and I attended Mass for a special occasion about a year ago. We could not reach the priest so we went to the EMHC who refused to give us Holy Communion on the tongue. We had no choice but to receive in our hands. This troubled my mother very much. It may have been the first time she received Holy Communion that way. It was during the Swine Flu scare and I guess she was being super-cautious but still...
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