Eucharistic Minister

In every celebration of the Eucharist there should always be a sufficient number of ministers for the distribution of Communion. Priority is always given to ordinary ministers (bishops, priests, deacons) and auxiliary ministers (instituted acolytes). Immemsae Caritatis in 1973 specifically addressed the problem of insufficient ministers of Communion by permitting the local ordinary to appoint suitable men and women to assist priests and deacons as special or extraordinary ministers of Communion. Among the occasions when the local ordinary is permitted to use the faculty of appointing extraordinary ministers are those times when “the number of the faithful requesting Holy Communion is such that the celebration of Mass or the distribution of the Eucharist outside Mass would be unduly prolonged.”