By Marie Mulvenna

The archdiocesan liturgical commission will sponsor its second training session for delegated lay ministers of the Eucharist. The special program will be held Sunday, October 7, at Sacred Heart parish, beginning at 8 p.m. The session is planned for delegates from those parishes who did not previously appoint candidates for the role of lay minister in the spring of 1973 or for parishes delegating additional candidates.

Thirteen parishes were represented at the liturgical commission’s first training session held in May when some 80 persons received the required training for the position of extraordinary minister of the Eucharist.

The role of lay ministers of the Eucharist in Atlanta was approved by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan in March following the instruction “Immensae Caritatis” issued by the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments at the direction of Pope Paul VI. According to this instruction, the faculty to permit the use of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist is granted by indult to the local ordinary who alone may permit its use.

At the May meeting the archbishop expressed his gratitude to the delegated ministers, thanking them for “accepting this additional role of service to the people of God.” He said the principal purpose of the entire program in Atlanta was “to give greater access to the Eucharist for the faithful people,” explaining that the “number of communicants was out of proportion to the availability of ministers” and the program would be for the spiritual good of the people of the local Church.

Candidates for the role of extraordinary minister of the Eucharist must be recommended in writing by the pastor to the archbishop who then delegates the candidate. The candidate must then receive sufficient catechesis, at the archdiocesan-wide training session run by the liturgical commission.

Following training, the delegated ministers will then be installed in their respective parishes, enabling them to present the sacrament of the Eucharist to members of the parish community.

The liturgical commission explained that the person selected, by specific norms established by the commission, is at all times a lay person and comes forth from the worshipping community to take on a ministerial function to benefit the people of the parish.

During the May training program the archbishop said: “We are to use this new faculty in Atlanta for the benefit of our people. I ask you to approach this ministry with humility, love, and a desire to serve; this will bring about great spiritual results.”