October 14, 2022 – Pastor’s Note

[Series on the People’s Chalice, Part 3/3]
[Part 1]
[Part 2]

We will resume our discussion of offering the Chalice to the laity.

The idea of offering the chalice to the laity was revisited during the Second Vatican Council, with the following declaration being included in the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy:

The dogmatic principles which were laid down by the Council of Trent remaining intact, communion under both kinds may be granted when the bishops think fit, not only to clerics and religious, but also to the laity, in cases to be determined by the Apostolic See, as, for instance, to the newly ordained in the Mass of their sacred ordination, to the newly professed in the Mass of their religious profession, and to the newly baptized in the Mass which follows their baptism. (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 55)

Two documents were subsequently published by Rome implementing this teaching concretely: Eucharisticum Mysterium #32 (1967), on the specific instances in which it is allowed, and Sacramentali Communione(1970), extending the ability of allowing it in other instances to individual bishops.

Both documents were reflected in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal [=GIRM], the instructions for the post-Vatican II Mass promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI in 1970. The introduction to this instruction takes great pains to show the continuity of Latin liturgy through the ages, linking the post-Vatican II Mass to the ancient liturgies, through and including the post-Trent liturgies, attributing any changes to different circumstances rather than different theology.

Moved by the same spirit of pastoral concern, the Second Vatican Council was able to reconsider the norm laid down by Trent about communion under both kinds. The Church teaches that the full effect of communion is received under the one species of bread; since that doctrine is rarely if ever challenged today, the Council gave permission for communion to be received sometimes under both kinds. This clearer form of the sacramental signs offers the faithful “a special opportunity for deepening their appreciation of the mystery in which they share.” (GIRM [1970] #14)

The original instructions for communion under both kinds can be found in GIRM [1970] nn. 240 – 252, which are a fascinating read (remember, this is the before the allowance of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion). For this column, we will simply quote the 14 instances in which communion under both kinds was allowed (GIRM [1970] #242):

At the bishop’s discretion and after the necessary explanation, communion from the chalice is permitted for the following:

1. adults at the Mass which follows their baptism; adults at the Mass in which they are confirmed; baptized persons who are being received into communion with the Church;
2. the bride and bridegroom at their wedding Mass;
3. the newly ordained at their ordination Mass;
4. an abbess at the Mass in which she is blessed; virgins at the Mass of their consecration; professed religious, their parents and relatives, and members of their community at the Mass during which they make first or perpetual vows or renew their vows;
5. lay missionaries at the Mass in which they publicly receive their mission; others at the Mass in which they receive an ecclesiastical mission;
6. the sick person and all present when viaticum is administered at a Mass lawfully celebrated in the home;
7. the deacon and ministers who exercise their office at a Mass with singing;
8. when there is a concelebrated Mass:
   1. all, including the laity, who exercise a genuine liturgical function in the concelebration and also all seminarians who are present;
   1. in their churches or oratories, all members of institutes which profess the evangelical counsels and other societies whose members dedicated themselves to God by religious vows, offering, or promise, as well as all those who live in the houses of such institutes and societies;
9. priests who are present at large celebrations and are not able to celebrate or concelebrate;
10. all who make a retreat or spiritual exercises, at a Mass specially celebrated for the participating group; all who take part in a meeting of a pastoral body, at a Mass celebrated in common;
11. those listed in nos. 2 and 4, at Masses celebrating their jubilees;
12. godparents, parents, wife or husband, and lay catechists of a newly baptized adult at the Mass of initiation;
13. parents, relatives, and special benefactors who participate in the Mass of a newly ordained priest;
14. members of communities at the conventual or community Mass, in accord with no. 76.

In 2002, Pope St. John Paul II issued a revision to the Roman Missal (called the third typical edition) which also revised the instructions for Mass, and these are the instructions in effect today. The section on communion under both kinds runs from #281 to #287. Specifically, the list of those who can receive under both kinds was significantly modified:

In addition to those cases given in the ritual books, Communion under both kinds is permitted for:

1. Priests who are not able to celebrate or concelebrate Mass;
2. the Deacon and others who perform some duty at the Mass;
3. members of communities at the Conventual Mass or the “community” Mass, along with seminarians, and all those engaged in a retreat or taking part in a spiritual or pastoral gathering.

The Diocesan Bishop may establish norms for Communion under both kinds for his own diocese, which are also to be observed in churches of religious and at celebrations with small groups. The Diocesan Bishop is also given the faculty to permit Communion under both kinds whenever it may seem appropriate to the Priest to whom a community has been entrusted as its own shepherd, provided that the faithful have been well instructed and that there is no danger of profanation of the Sacrament or of the rite’s becoming difficult because of the large number of participants or for some other cause.

As an example of a case “given in the ritual books”, the current Rite of Marriage, for Marriage within Mass (#76) states: “The bride and bridegroom, their parents, witnesses, and relatives may receive Communion under both kinds.”

With the new Missal of 2002 (implemented in the United States in 2011), the U.S. Bishops added their own norms regarding reception of communion under both kinds. They can be read in full here, but they do not significantly modify the GIRM and the choice of occasions in which to offer communion under both kinds is still left to the individual bishop.

In the Archdiocese of Seattle, our particular norms do not specifically expand the list of times when the chalice is offered to the laity. Its wide acceptance is by custom. (Cf. the Archdiocese of Portland’s far more specific norms on p. 104). The relationship between the people’s chalice and EMHCs is explored in my letter on EMHCs.