QUAERITUR: Can I take Communion home for my sick wife?

From a reader:

Am I allowed to take home communion for my sick wife & in what.

You are to be commended for wanting to help your wife benefit from the Eucharist. I hope she is better soon.

The short answer is, No, you can’t take a Host home for your sick wife…. not on your own.

Please get in touch with your parish’s office and arrange for Holy Communion to be brought, if not by the priest or a deacon, then perhaps by some lay person who has been given an official deputation to do so, and with the proper sort of container.

The very best option is to have a home visit from the priest, who can also hear a confession if necessary.

In any event, no one can simply take the Eucharist, a consecrated Host, home. That would be Very Wrong. Not just Wrong, but Very Wrong.

Also, if your wife has a very serious condition, you should let the parish priest know so that, if necessary, he can give her the Sacrament of Anointing. Only bishops and priests can confer that sacrament, not deacons or lay people.

Thanks for asking instead of just doing it.