The Catholic Handbook for Visiting the Sick and Homebound 2020 is the essential resource for lay ministers of care, especially extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. This portable, annual resource has been updated to include all the official rites a lay minister will need from the Book of Blessings and Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum to bring Holy Communion to as well as to pray and share the Gospel with those who cannot regularly worship with their parish community.

These rites include:

Communion in Ordinary Circumstances

Communion in a Hospital or Institution

Celebration of Viaticum Outside Mass

Order for the Blessing of a person Suffering from Addiction or Substance Abuse

Order of Blessing for the Victim of a Crime or Oppression

Order for the Blessing of Parents after a Miscarriage

Visits to the Sick and to a Sick Child

Pastoral Care of the Dying

The full Gospel text from Sunday Mass is provided along with an explanation of the reading that lay ministers can read to those they visit. The explanations have been written with the needs of the sick in mind.