Please do your best to ensure reverence and dignity are maintained during these procedures.

• You must wear a mask.

• You will approach the sanctuary after the final blessing when the clergy go to sanitize.

• You will also use the sanitizer located by the piano.

• Adam Brill will inform you at that time if there are people in the overflow who require low-gluten hosts.

• With the clergy, you will approach the altar and genuflect upon reaching the altar.

• The priest will hand yo the LGH ciboria. (YOU ARE NOT RECEIVING COMMUNION YOURSELF AT THIS MOMENT)

• When the clergy go to distribute holy communion through the pews, you will examine the nave of the church for any individuals who are standing.

• When you see a person standing, or an usher directing you to someone who needs an LGH, you will leave the sanctuary to bring them communion individually.

• You will make your way through the church to distribute, being aware of people leaving and the clergy also processing through the church. 

• If you are needed in the overflow(s), you will go there after you have finished in the church, and being careful as you walk between buildings.

• When you have finished distribution to all who require a low-gluten host, you will place your ciboria back on the altar and place the lid over it. 

• Then you will remain in the sanctuary to ensure that nobody has been missed.

• As the clergy return to the sanctuary, THEN you will receive communion if you desire to receive that day.

• Then you will exit the sanctuary and return to your pew to collect belongings and leave at the direction of ushers.

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church offers our members the opportunity to be Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. While the Bishop /Priest alone is the Eucharistic Minister, since only he can consecrate the Sacred Species, all ordained Clergy (Bishop, Priest, Deacon) is the Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion. A lay person who meets the requirements can be trained and commissioned as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion to take Holy Communion to the sick and the homebound, to hospitals and prisons as well as be called to assist the Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in the distribution of Holy Communion at Mass whenever necessary. To find out more about how to become involved in this beautiful ministry, please contact our Liturgy Coordinator. Thank you!

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion Guidelines