Ministers of The Sacraments
The other kind of minister in Catholic parlance is a person who administers a sacrament, meaning that he or she is a conduit of sacramental grace. This is not an office or position but instead a function that different kinds of people may perform, depending on the sacrament. There are two kinds of ministers in this sense. The ordinary minister of a sacrament, who is the standard or normal minister of that sacrament, has the spiritual power to administer it (i.e., a valid sacrament), but not necessarily the canonical authority to administer it (i.e., a licit sacrament). Thus a bishop who consecrates another bishop without pontifical mandate exercises illicitly the spiritual power to consecrate him. While bishops, priests and deacons are ordinary ministers of holy communion, only someone who has been validly ordained as a priest is a minister of the Eucharist. If a priest is, for some reason, debarred and yet celebrates the Eucharist, he does so illicitly (i.e. against canon law), but the Eucharist is still valid. However, in the case of the sacrament of Reconciliation (the Sacrament of Penance), although the priest is the minister, the only minister, since there are no extraordinary ministers of this sacrament, he must have been granted by the law itself or by a competent authority the faculty to celebrate this sacrament validly for the person to whom he imparts absolution.
An extraordinary minister (Latin: minister extraordinarius) of a sacrament is someone, other than an ordinary minister, officially authorised to administer a sacrament by the law itself (as an instituted acolyte is an extraordinary minister of holy communion) or by being deputed for this purpose. If an extraordinary minister of a sacrament administers it illicitly, the sacrament is effective, but the person ministering could be liable for an ecclesiastical penalty, such as an interdict. By way of example, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is authorised to bring Holy Communion within a particular parish or diocese. If a minister brings Holy Communion to someone outside of the authorised area, it is done illicitly, but the communicant does receive Holy Communion, as indeed the communicant would, even if the person administering it had no authorisation whatever.
If a person who is not an ordinary minister of certain sacraments attempts to celebrate them, the sacraments are invalid.
Below is a table outlining each sacrament, its ordinary ministers, and its extraordinary ministers (if any), with stipulations regarding its exercise by extraordinary ministers in parenthesis.
| Sacrament | Ordinary ministers | Extraordinary ministers |
|---|---|---|
| Baptism | any clergy1 | in the absence of clergy, a catechist or other person designated by the local ordinary in emergencies, any person with the right intention, even if not baptised (in other circumstances illicit but valid) |
| Confirmation | bishop | priests who are equivalent in law to a diocesan bishop for their subjects, or who legitimately baptise or receive into the Church an adult, or who are acting in danger of death for the person being confirmed or who have been specifically granted the faculty by the diocesan bishop (invalid if administered by other priests or by persons who are not priests) |
| Eucharist (consecration)² | bishop or priest | none; always invalid if attempted by others |
| Distribution of Holy Communion³ | clergy (including deacons) | instituted acolyte (licit when not enough or no clergy are available) other laity deputed for the purpose (licit when not enough or no clergy or instituted acolytes available) |
| Reconciliation | bishop or priest | none; invalid if done by a layperson or by a priest without faculties (which the law provides for any priest absolving someone who is in danger of death) |
| Anointing of the Sick | bishop or priest | none; invalid if done by anyone else |
| Holy Orders (bishop)4 | bishop | none; licit only by papal mandate and, if there are no co-consecrators, by papal dispensation, but still valid without these authorisations |
| Holy Orders (priest and deacon) | bishop | none; licit only if the bishop is ordaining his own subjects who are of the same rite or those who have been given dimissorial letters, and only if the bishop is ordaining in his own territory or with the permission of the local bishop |
| Holy Matrimony | husband and wife | none; invalid if contracted other than before the local ordinary or parish priest or a priest or deacon delegated by them and before two witnesses (some exceptions to this condition are envisaged in canon law) |
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