The priest at our church has been sick lately and he has missed morning mass a few times and I wanted to know if it is ok that a woman in our parish who is a Eucharistic minister has taken it upon herself to not only read the gospel but also deliver a homily,just wanted to know if this was out of line cause it doesn't seem right to me. Thank you!

Absolutely NOT ok! The priest (or a deacon IIRC) are the only ones who can give the homily!

SV

Reading the Gospel is correct in this context, but no one but a priest or deacon is allowed to give the homily.

The so-called "Mass without a priest" is really called a Commuion Service.
http://www.cuf.org/faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=43

1) That's not a Mass, it's a communion service.
2) I am not sure that, technically speaking, a homily is given at a communion service; it might be just a "meditation," which a lay person is allowed to give.

If a priest is absent, there can be no mass at all.

We had a lot of those during the three years when we didn't have a resident priest. A nun conducted them.

Who consecrates the Host? (did I say that right???)

They would have been left over from a previous Mass.

Which begs the question--sometime in 2000+ years of Church history, there must have been an occasion in which not enough host was consecrated to serve everyone--maybe during the Triduum. What happens then?

Prior to 1955, on Good Friday, only the celebrant received the Host...the one and only Host he reserved on Maundy Thursday.

Not even the pope communicated unless he was the celebrant (he often was not). The only exception was if you were dying. A priest was allowed, if necessary, to celebrate a private votive Mass of the passion on Good Friday to give communion to those near death.


Now of course in any regular Mass, if there are no more Hosts, then there are no more Hosts. No more in the tabernacle? Then the priest must merely end communion. Nothing can be done until another Mass is said.

It is not required that anyone communicate except for the celebrant. Heck, a few years ago Cardinal Rajinth decided not to distribute communion at all to any faithful at a Mass because it was outdoors, there were many people, and the weather was turning. Instead, later in the day, there were a few communion services in nearby Churches.

The answer was a lot simpler than I thought. Thanks!

If the shortage was known in advance they could also break the hosts into halves or even fourths.