Dear Chuck,

Well first of all, if the other priests and deacons happened to be in attendance at a celebration of the Mass, then they would be obligated to assist.  If they are in residence at the parish, then they should still be assisting with distributing even if they attend another weekend Mass, provided they don't have some other valid commitment.

Regarding the brothers and sisters, well technically they are not ordinary ministers as the priests and deacons are, but in my personal opinion the brothers at least would fall next in line before the laity, oh and I should probably say with affection the sisters as well.  :-)

Assuming that none of these ministers are available, then it would be up to the bishop to decide whether or not the use of laymen should be permitted because of time issues, and for practical reasons most bishops defer this decision to the pastors of parishes since the bishop cannot personally attend each parish on a regular basis.

If you're concerned that an abuse might be occuring, please be sure you know exactly where the "extra" priests are when they could be assisting at Mass.. with the current priest shortage in most dioceses maybe the priests are helping out at other nearby parishes.

I would only be too concerned if the deacons and priests were sitting in the pews rather than helping out with Communion, or if there were three or more EMHCs helping out with anything but a large congregation.

Please feel free to discuss this matter with your pastor, ultimately he knows exactly what is going on better than you or I would know.

Mr. Slavek