In the GIRM under n. 86 ....................The singing is continued for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful. If, however, there is to be a hymn after Communion, the Communion chant should be ended in a timely manner
Care should be taken that singers, too, can receive Communion with ease.


It's still the same Lord during and after mass. For me, I always make it a point to end whatever the choir is singing in a timely manner to let them go down to receive during the mass. I fill in the extra time with a chant or organ music. On special events that are busy, a Eucharistic minister will come to the choir loft and administer. I think you need to be your own advocate in it. If it is important to you let someone know that can help with different options. Contrary to popular belief the hand holding at the Our Father is not the sign of unity at mass, it is the Community reception of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

Beth is right. If the choir receives after Mass, the significance for them of the prayer after communion and the dismissal is diminished.

We are fortunate to have two extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion who bring the Body & Blood to the choir. The
wonderful thing about the communio w/ psalm, is that we can receive Holy Communion with the rest of the congregation
while the communio is being sung. At the conclusion of the communio, we frequently will sing a motet.

Btw, a Chrism Mass, where there are bevvies of clerics as ordinary ministers of the sacrament available to minister, does not strike me as such an extraoardinary circumstance in the least.

Dear Jean Cantu,

The "traditional" way for the choir to receive Holy Communion is after Mass.

But, as the GIRM says, it is not impossible for them to receive during the actual Communion. But if they do, they should NOT be rushed. The choir has an office to fulfill. This office need not be diminished.

Practically speaking, I find it very, very difficult to receive Holy Communion while worrying about my office (directing the choir, setting organ stops, moving kneelers, music stands, intonation pitches, watching the priest to see how close he is to being finished distributing Holy Communion, etc.)

In ideal circumstances (where all my singers know their music perfectly, have their music ready, organ stops set, etc.), it is quite easy. But, practically speaking, it is not easy. That's why I'm grateful the Church has always (wisely) permitted reception of Holy Communion after Mass.

At my church, myself and 2 other women sing the Communion chant beginning as soon as Father communicates, and as we are singing, an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion comes up into the choir loft for the choir to receive, but meanwhile a few choir members prefer to go downstairs and receive from the priest. Then when everyone is back, we stop the Communion chant and the remaining couple singers (myself included) receive from the EMHC, then we start a hymn or choral piece. It seems to work quite well.

Unless the organist wants to receive. In my case I'm singing the chant, then quickly receive communion, then very soon after start playing the organ. It takes significantly longer just to go all the way downstairs and come back, and WAY longer to stand in line with everyone else. Plus, there are a few older people, who wouldn't easily be able to or want to get all the way down the stairs and come back in a short amount of time.

I don't receive at masses when I play. In the first place, I am too distracted by what I am doing to give communion the attention it deserves. Also, we Byzantines typically don't receive with the frequency that Latins do, and have no desire to. I play while the choir receives and everyone is happy.

I have actually been offered Communion at the organ bench a couple of times! I think this whole topic comes from a modern liturgical (not capitalized here on purpose) concept that we all must show that we are that "one body" during Communion at Mass. IMO this comes from an overemphasis on the Eucharistic Banquet to the exclusion of the whole Sacrifice of the Mass. The vernacular translations in English have also lead to a confusion between St. Paul's "mystical body of Christ" where he describes us as all members of the Body with Christ as the Head, and St. John's definition of the Eucharist as the "Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity" of Jesus Christ as He instituted in the Sacrament.

When we go to Mass (or hear Mass, or attend, &c.) we do receive graces, not dependent upon the level of our participation. It is an extra blessing when we bring away good feelings from the Liturgy, but even those do not totally depend on our "active" participation therein. (Of course none of those feelings could happen if we weren't actively participating with our minds and hears - I refer to the constant vocalizations and arm movements, &c.) Going to receive Christ in Communion is certainly a group activity, but still primarily very personal. That statement certainly galls "liturgists". They are still confused about the body receiving the Body! (And they remain confused about a necessity to receive both species, even though both Body and Blood are contained, by definition, in both the Host and the Chalice.) So there is the confusion between the body of Christ that we are, and His total Presence in the Eucharist.

I think this leads to further confusion between the Sacrifice of the Mass, our worship of God, and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The Mass is always the Mass, whether or not any of the congregation receives Communion. And the Sacrament is always the Sacrament, whether during the Mass or not. Except for receiving while totally preoccupied with some other action, there is nothing wrong with any of the scenarios above. I just think that we all need to be aware of what we are doing, and why we are doing it, and what our personal options are.

But extraordinary ministers are supposed to be just that--extraordinary--aren't they? If you schedule them into the Mass, then they become ordinary, because they are expected to perform that duty every week, not just in extremely exceptional circumstances.

I have several choir members who refuse to receive from EMHC's. To ensure that they receive Communion if they wish, I continue chanting the antiphon while they travel from the loft to the front of the church. I try to time things well so that I'm able to receive (thanks to a few purposefully-slow-moving choir members!), but sometimes it just doesn't happen. I make a Spiritual Communion, which is not a substitute for the real thing.

I have actually been offered Communion at the organ bench a couple of times!

I'm probably displaying what my husband tells me is an unfortunate tendency to want to "top" others' stories, but here goes:

I was subbing on organ at another parish for a funeral and asked what the procedure for communion was, (there was a choir and cantor and we were all in close proximity to the sanctuary.)
I was told "someone" would come over to the area toward the end of the communion hymn.
But the funeral turned out to be large, and the hymn finished so the choir all went and joined the regular communion line.
I continued to play softly and chant verses of a psalm.
The priest approached the console and I immediately began to cadence.
The priest said, "take your time," and placed the Blessed Sacrament on the console and walked away.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

G takes the prize for sure. Being offered communion at the bench is actually pretty common, I think. At Methodist "open communion" I once had a grapejuice-soaked bit of bread shoved into my mouth while I muttered "no thank you" and shook my head. Good medicine for one's musical concentration.

the way i have seen it done, extraordinary ministers distribute communion while some members of the choir are still singing.

"The 'traditional' way for the choir to receive Holy Communion is after Mass."

Maybe in 1950. Communions at Sung or Solemn Masses were relatively rare before the 20th century as I understand it. Certainly for the choir members to receive communion would be exceptional. People frequently went to Communion at an early morning low Mass and then returned for the Sung/Solemn Mass later in the day.

--The term "extraordinary" is no longer applied to Eucharistic Ministers.

They are Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. That is the term.

There is and always has been a variety of liturgical ministries--from celebrant and acolyte at Low Mass, to celebrant, deacon, subdeacon, master of ceremonies, candle-bearers, thurifers, schola members etc. at High Pontifical Masses. I merely note the fact and have no axe to grind about it.
Reception of Holy Communion is the most perfect form of participation at Mass, and it seems to me that it should not take second place to the performance of other liturgical duties. Once there was a funeral with so many (mostly non-Catholics) that all the aisles were blocked, and the priest asked Catholics to receive Communion after returning from the cemetery. So there can be situations. But in St Peter's Basilica a hundred priests distribute communion to twenty thousand people during a given Mass.
We received word from on high (diocesan office of liturgy) to avoid the term "Extraordinary Minister" but that is still a correct description as such. Distributing communion is "ordinary" for bishops, priests, deacons and those in the minor ministry of acolyte; it is still "extraordinary" (in small caps) for lay persons.

The Holy Sacrament should not be taken out of the altar before the sacrifice is complete, that is, before the priest has received. Still less should anyone receive while or before the celebrant does or from a layman (or priest!) who himself has not yet received.

I send most of the choir down to receive communion first, keeping a small group to sing a communion antiphon (usually SEP) when the rest of the choir has returned, I send the chant group down and then begin the communion hymn. It works beautifully.

I came across these guidelines on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website:

If extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are required by pastoral need, they should not approach the altar before the priest has received Communion. After the priest has concluded his own Communion, he distributes Communion to the extraordinary ministers, assisted by the deacon, and then hands the sacred vessels to them for distribution of Holy Communion to the people.

Never heard of the Communion-after-Mass concept before now. Over the years I must have played the organ at just about every Sydney or Melbourne Catholic parish that retains a usable organ at all, but I've not once encountered this concept in my own experience. Nor has any other Aussie organist known to me.

For whatever it's worth: at both the (diocesan) EF church where I was regular organist for eight years, and the (diocesan, conservative, partly Latinized, chant- and polyphony-heavy) OF church where I play quite often these days, what invariably happens is as follows. The choristers - each church has a mixed choir - descend from the loft after the Agnus Dei; process to the altar rail (yes, both buildings still have altar rails); and receive Communion before, rather than after, the congregation does.

Meanwhile I will play - except in Advent and Lent, of course - a quiet organ solo of approximately four minutes' duration. By the time I end the final chord, the choristers are back in the loft. I prefer to restrict my own reception of Communion to Low Masses where I, instead of being musically involved, am simply another working stiff in the pews (i.e. I can go to confession beforehand).