Dear Parishioners,

Instructions from the Chancelry On the manner of distributing and receiving Holy Communion during Mass

1. Holy Communion during Mass is distributed according to the provisions of the Roman Missal , its General Instruction, and the instruction Redemptionis sacramentum nos. 87-107. These norms are intended to specify for the Diocese of Portland matters which are left unstated in those documents. 

2. The Communion rite begins with the Our Father and concludes with the prayer after communion. Announcements can be made after the prayer after communion and before the final blessing. Words of remembrance, if made during the funeral Mass itself, can be made after the prayer after communion and be fore the final commendation. 

3. Extraordinary Ministers are seated in the body of the church during the course of Mass. They do not participate in the entrance procession or the recessional. 

4. It is praiseworthy for everyone in the church to receive communion from elements consecrated at the Mass they attend. If necessary, the ciborium from the tabernacle located in the sanctuary can be placed on the altar during the sign of peace by an ordinary minister, that is Priest or Deacon. If the tabernacle is located outside the sanctuary, the ciborium from the tabernacle can be placed on the altar during the sign of peace by an ordinary or extraordinary minister as circumstances suggest. 

5. The distribution of Communion begins after the communion of the priest celebrant. Extraordinary ministers approach the altar once the celebrant has consumed both species. The Roman Missal does not call for ministers to wash or sanitize their hands before the distribution of Holy Communion. If they wish to do so, that takes place at their seat before entering the sanctuary. 

6. The priest celebrant distributes the communion first to the deacon of the Mass under both species. Then the celebrant proceeds to distribute holy communion to the servers and extraordinary ministers, preferably as one group if possible. The deacon may assist with the chalice. 

7. The celebrant, and if necessary the deacon also, places the vessels from the altar into the hands of each of the extraordinary ministers. Extraordinary ministers never take the vessels from the altar themselves. 

8. Extraordinary ministers who are unable to fulfill their function for some reason have no authority to dele gate other members of the lay faithful, who are not themselves already extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, to take their place. Nor can a communicant who is not an extraordinary minister himself or herself bring communion from the communion line to anyone else in attendance at the same Mass
(to be continued).