A friend recently asked me which has priority: offering Communion under both species or the minimizing use of extraordinary ministers. The question expressed a fairly common idea among seminarians, priests, and laity, the idea that the current use of both Communion under both kinds and extraordinary ministers in this country is not completely proper or legitimate. What is the cause of this idea? For devout Catholics, we may say that this idea is some what of a natural reaction. We profess belief in that the bread and wine cease to exist after the consecration and became the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ and then see Him casually trucked, in chalices and ciboria, quickly and uncovered, across the church. This treatment is not consistent with the great reverence a belief in the Real Presence would afford. I do not imply that the agents of this action do not believe, but I only point out that the image they create contradicts the idea they profess. The multiplication of chalices and extraordinary ministers is particularly scandalous because in its practice the reality of the Real Presence is ordered beneath the convenience of the assembly. The message that this is “Truly the Son of God” is seconded-placed by the message “We need to get these people through as fast as we can.”
Notice that my criticism is not of the Church or her laws, but only of its application.
There are, however, documented reasons for the idea the use of Communion under both kinds and extradordinary have gone awry. To seperate my commentary from the ruling of the Church, these reasons will follow in the succeeding posts.
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