Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion
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According to Redemptionis Sacramentum, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is a layperson formally instituted to administer - that is, distribute - Holy Communion during the Roman Catholic Mass. They are referred to as extraordinary as the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are ordained clergy: Bishops, Priest and Deacons. They should only be used in situations where there are not enough ordinary ministers present
Extraordinary ministers were originally called "special ministers of the Eucharist" (Immensae Caritatis, 1973), and were frequently referred to as "Eucharistic ministers" [1] or "extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist" until the 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, n. 156 reprobated these usages.