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Dear Catholic Exchange:
A friend, who was Catholic and now goes to a fundamentalist church, has recently said that the priest is not the only one who can consecrate a host. She says that she prays and studies Scripture and then she receives Communion every day, and she says anyone can do that. I don't believe this, but I am not sure where to find out why.
Ms. Heydinger
Dear Ms. Heydinger,
Greetings in Christ. I hope this response will adequately address your question regarding who possesses the power to consecrate the sacred host and who does not.
Perhaps your friend does not comprehend that the transformation that takes place during the consecration is not merely symbolic, but is a real, substantial change. “Transubstantiation” is the term the Church uses to describe the change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of Christ’s Body and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance Christ’s Blood which takes place during the Eucharistic consecration (CCC, no. 1376). It follows that though a person may be a faithful Christian, unless he is a validly ordained priest or bishop, he or she has no power to effect this substantial change.
This teaching is drawn from Scripture when, on the evening of the Last Supper, Christ first pronounced the words of consecration stating, “This is my Body,” and “This is…my Blood.” However, Christ’s institution of the Eucharist was also the institution of the ministerial priesthood. He was speaking to His first priests when He said, “Do this in memory of me” (CCC, no. 1341).
Vatican Council II did call “all the faithful” to “full, conscious, and active participation” in liturgical celebrations, a type of participation “which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy” (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, no. 14), yet this participation of the community in the Mass has no bearing on the consecration of the bread and wine (CCC, nos. 1353, 1369).
For more information on the Catholic Church’s position on this matter, please refer to the following sources. The Code of Canon Law is clear on this matter, stating: “The only minister who, in the person of Christ, can bring into being the sacrament of the Eucharist, is a validly ordained priest” (canon, no. 900; cf. CCC, nos. 1337-44). The Catechism of the Catholic Church does state that the Eucharist is “the sacrifice of the Church,” in which “the sacrifice of Christ also becomes the sacrifice of the members of His body” (CCC, no. 1368), yet it states further that “the Eucharist is offered through the priests’ hands in the name of the whole Church” (CCC, no. 1369).
I hope this response adequately answers your question. Please see our Faith Fact on Invalid Masses.
See more Faith Facts:
Real Presence in the Eucharist
Rock Solid: The Salvation History of the Catholic Church
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