Dear Father,
I’ve seen lay ministers of the Eucharist give blessings during Communion, especially to children. When I asked my brother, a deacon, if that’s OK, he said parents can bless their own children but not other children. I thought only priests could give blessings. Can you please write about this?
– Terry
Dear Terry,
A blessing is a prayer by which we ask God to look favorably on someone or something. It is part of God’s nature to bless and He is pleased to associate us with His work of blessing persons and things.
A formal blessing in the Catholic Church is connected to authority and service, especially as a person shares in God’s authority. The greater a God-given authority to serve others that a person exercises, the greater the power to bless, or ask God to bless.
The pope is the supreme pastor of the Church and has the greatest authority to care for all people. Part of his authority means that he can give blessings of all kinds. For example, there are rarer blessings, such as Urbi et Orbi, to the City (Rome) and to the World, blessing, which carries with it a plenary indulgence. This type of blessing is reserved to the pope because he has the responsibility to serve every person.
Bishops, priests and deacons, on account of being ordained by God to serve certain groups of persons, have the God-given power to bless persons and objects according to the responsibility entrusted to them. A bishop is responsible for every person in his diocese, even those who are not Catholic. A special blessing reserved to the bishop is the dedication of an altar where the Sacrifice of the Mass takes place.
Likewise, priests and deacons have their responsibilities and as a result have the authority to bless all those for whom they must care.
Finally, lay persons have various responsibilities given to them by God, such as being a parent. Mothers and fathers have the special authority to care for their children, part of which is to give their children blessings. Many parents bless their children at bedtime or when they set off on various outings. Husbands and wives ought to bless each other frequently.
Not everyone has the same authority and responsibility in the Church, and therefore, not everyone has the power to bless persons and things, especially in the context of the Mass. At Mass, only bishops and priests give blessings.
The lay person who distributes Communion is properly referred to as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC). The EMHC has a very restricted realm of authority and service and does not have the power to give special blessings at Mass or when taking Communion to the sick.
Every EMHC must first be authorized to distribute Communion. This person is “extraordinary,” not in the sense of a wow factor, but because he/she is out of the ordinary. Extraordinary refers to being out of the usual order of things. The ordinary minister of Holy Communion is the bishop, priest, or deacon because it is part of his main responsibilities.
Moreover, these extraordinary ministers are not to be used at Mass unless there is a genuine need and there is not a sufficient number of priests or deacons to distribute Holy Communion.
It is most inappropriate, therefore, for the EMHC to make the sign of the cross over someone in the Communion line. Nor is it right for the EMHC to lay hands on the head or shoulders of someone in the Communion line.
I urge you to read the Vatican instruction “On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest” to learn more about the kinds of blessings that may be given by a lay Catholic.
Questions about the sacraments should be sent to sacraments101@columbuscatholic.org.
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