Other FAQs

Mass

How early can Mass be celebrated on Saturday to count for Sunday obligation?

The practice in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis is for Vigil Masses to not begin before 4:00 pm.

What are the requirements to be a lector?

See section on lectors below.

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

What is the age requirement in St. Louis?

In the Archdiocese of Saint Louis a person must be 18 and confirmed to be an extraordinary minister.

How do I become one?

To become one, contact your local parish or priest and they will be able to guide you in becoming one.

What are the duties and responsibilities?

A document showing the duties and responsibilities for extraordinary ministers can be found at the bottom of this page.

Lectors

What are the requirements to be a lector?

In the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, a lector must be a person at least 16 years of age and confirmed. “Therefore, ministers should be selected on the basis of liturgical competence. It should not be presumed that children should proclaim the word of God in the celebrations in which this Lectionary is used. Some younger children are able to read the scriptures competently, but the witness of older children, teenagers, or adults, ministering graciously and reverently to younger children engaged in liturgical prayer, is more conducive to the children’s growing reverence for the word of God than the peer ministry of embarrassed or ill prepared children”(Lectionary for Masses with Children).

Universal Prayers

Is there a specific order for Universal Prayers

The series of intentions are usually to be:
1) For the needs of the Church
2) For public authorities
3) For those burdened with any difficulty
4) For the local community
“Nevertheless, in any particular celebration, such as Confirmation, a Marriage, or a Funeral, the series of intentions may be concerned more closely with the particular occasion” (GIRM 70).

Eucharistic Adoration

What is the proper arrangement for Eucharistic Adoration? (Things needed for Adoration)

For proper Eucharistic Adoration in a monstrance the following should be set up:
An Altar or other appropriate table, an altar cloth, a corporal, 4 or 6 candles, a monstrance, a throne (optional), incense, a humeral vial, bells.

Who can expose the Blessed Sacrament?

The ordinary minister for Eucharistic Adoration is a priest or deacon. In the absence of a priest or deacon or, if they are lawfully impeded, an acolyte, another extraordinary minister of communion, or another person appointed by the local Ordinary may publicly expose and later repose the holy Eucharist for the adoration of the faithful (Order for the Solemn Exposition of the Holy Eucharist 26). At the end of the period of adoration, they replace the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. It is not lawful, however, for them to give the blessing with the sacrament” (ICEL, Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass (HCW), June 21, 1973, 91) nor do they incense it.

Are tabernacle-monstrance's allowed?

No. “The holy Eucharist is to be reserved in a solid tabernacle. It must be opaque and unbreakable” (HCW, 10).

Extraordinary Minister Guidelines and Commissioning Forms (1).pdf