The Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion emerged in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council in response to the shortage of ordained ministers from the document "Immensae caritatis" of the Congregation for the Sacraments, published on January 29, 1973.
After being chosen by the parish priest and before assuming their functions, they receive a liturgical and doctrinal formation to enable them to exercise their function with the utmost dignity and decorum.
At the end of the formation they are admitted by the bishop to exercise the functions of extraordinary minister of communion for a period of three years, renewed or not.
The functions of the extraordinary ministers of communion are:
- distribution of the Eucharistic bread, during Mass, due to a large number of faithful, or by any particular difficulty on the part of the celebrant;
- outside the Mass by bringing the sacred species to patients who are in danger of life or when the number of patients is such that it requires the intervention of several ministers, whether at home, in hospitals or in similar institutions.
The appointed Ministers of our Community:
Afrisia Cabral
Ana Barbosa
Edmundo Botelho
Guilhermina Barbosa
