Question
Who are the liturgical ministers that enter in procession? May Communion Ministers process?
--Lingering in Lafayette
Answer
The General Instruction on the Roman Missal, 2002 [GIRM] says in paragraph 120:
Once the people have gathered, the priest and ministers, clad in the sacred vestments, go in procession to the altar in this order:
- The thurifer carrying a thurible with burning incense, if incense is used;
- The ministers who carry lighted candles, and between them an acolyte or other minister with the cross;
- The acolytes and the other ministers
In 2002, when the USCCB Committee on the Liturgy [BCL] website had an article on "Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion at Mass." This article stated that Communion Ministers do not participate in the entrance procession. They should sit among the assembly and come from within it to perform their ministry (Cf. GIRM 120). This is how the interpreted the above paragraph.
The Ceremonial of Bishops, 128 lists all who are to be in the entrance procession, neither "other ministers" nor "extraordinary ministers of communion" are mentioned.