Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion
What is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion?
Canon 910 provides:
§1. The ordinary minister of Holy Communion is a bishop, a priest or a deacon.
§2. The extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is an acolyte, or another of Christ’s faithful
deputed in accordance with canon 230§3.
Canon 230:
§3. Where the needs of the Church require and ministers are not available, lay people, even
though they are not lectors or acolytes, can supply certain of their functions, that is, exercise the
ministry of the word, preside over liturgical prayers, confer baptism and distribute Holy
Communion, in accordance with the provisions of the law.
“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. 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.”