Q: After Communion during our school Mass this morning, I was at the altar. As the deacon assisting today, I was consuming the remaining Precious Blood. When I turned around to take the chalice to the credence table I noticed one of our extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion placing the remaining consecrated hosts in the ciborium and then into the tabernacle, close and lock the door before leaving the sanctuary. In my formation we were taught that it is the responsibility and duty of the either the priest or the deacon to place the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle after Communion.
After Mass I asked the extraordinary minister why she had done it. Her response was that she was told to do it by another minister. I took some time and looked in the GIRM and found that in the absence of a deacon the priest is to either consume or place the remaining consecrated hosts in the tabernacle (paragraph 163). When a deacon is present paragraph 183 implies that the deacon either consumes or reposes the remaining hosts in the tabernacle but does not say so explicitly.
So, this is a long introduction to ask the question: Under normal conditions, is it the duty and responsibility of the deacon (or the priest in his absence) to place the unconsumed consecrated hosts in the tabernacle or is it generally permissible for any extraordinary minister to do it?
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A: Here’s a previous post: https://paulturner.org/hosts-from-the-tabernacle/
I don’t know of any universal provision prohibiting communion ministers from accessing the tabernacle after communion, since they may need to do so apart from Mass when bringing communion to the sick. Yes, normally, a priest or deacon reposes the remaining hosts after communion, but the GIRM gives precious little information about communion ministers. For example, GIRM 161 tells a priest how to distribute communion—how to raise the host and what to say. But that applies to all ministers, not just to the priest.
Our national Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Communion under both kinds says that the consecrated bread that remains is to be placed in the tabernacle (no. 51), but it doesn’t limit who puts it there.
In my diocese our bishop has authorized an explicit permission for lay ministers to repose the remaining hosts after communion to remove any doubt.
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