2 questions...

[Monica4316]

Does anyone know…

Can priests celebrate Novus Ordo ad orientem?

And are there documents that talk about lay people receiving Communion at Novus Ordo, kneeling and on the tongue? I have heard that this is allowed… does anyone have any Church documents on this? Just because I hear different things sometimes and that got me confused. btw I live in North America (Canada), if that is relevant.

thanks!

 

[Boulder257]

Does anyone know…

Can priests celebrate Novus Ordo ad orientem?

And are there documents that talk about lay people receiving Communion at Novus Ordo, kneeling and on the tongue? I have heard that this is allowed… does anyone have any Church documents on this? Just because I hear different things sometimes and that got me confused. btw I live in North America (Canada), if that is relevant.

thanks!

Both of those things take place in my parish in Greenville, SC.

 

[SonCatcher]

I know of an abbey where the priests were considering building their new chapel in a way to celebrate the OF ad orientam. I don’t think their new chapel is started, yet. I understand the GIRM is written to the possibility of ad orientam celebration as there are explicit instructions to face the people in several places.

One parish in a neighboring diocese has retained the Communion rails and the vast majority receive on the tongue while kneeling. The parish only celebrates the OF.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

In the GIRM that is used for the US, it states that the norm for receiving communion is standing, but that anyone who wishes can kneel, and should not be refused for doing so.

As far as *ad orientum *is concerned, unless the Ordinary of the Diocese has said otherwise, (and that is his call, he sets the norms for his diocese) I believe it may be up to the individual priest as to how he celebrates Mass.

 

[corsair]

Short answer to your question; Yes.

 

[Mike30]

The Priest has always been allowed to celebrate an OF Mass facing the Altar rather than the people. It is entirely up to him.

The norm to receive in the United States is standing but if someone wishes to receive kneeling he or she is not to be refused on that basis.

There is no regulation whatsoever concerning whether receiving on the tongue or in the hand, is the norm. In short you are free to receive in either fashion.

 

[OraLabora]

I know of an abbey where the priests were considering building their new chapel in a way to celebrate the OF ad orientam. I don’t think their new chapel is started, yet. I understand the GIRM is written to the possibility of ad orientam celebration as there are explicit instructions to face the people in several places.

One parish in a neighboring diocese has retained the Communion rails and the vast majority receive on the tongue while kneeling. The parish only celebrates the OF.

Yes to both questions of the OP.

But I’m curious about your abbey. Any idea which order? Benedictines tend to have a long-standing tradition of celebrating even the EF Mass versus populum at least concerning their communities. You’ll find a lot of older Benedictine chapels where the altar is between the nave and the choir (choir stalls behind the nave) so that the celebrant is actually facing the other members of his community while the faithful in the nave are behind him. So he’s actually doing both versus populum and ad orientem at the same time! Monte Cassino in Italy is built like that (and the OF Mass is still celebrated that way), but the newish abbey church at the abbey I’m associated with (1994) has the choir between the nave and the altar so that the concelebrants are always versus populum for both the faithful and the community.

Facing their community is a long-established Benedictine tradition. So is the fact that there’s no tabernacle on the main altar, it is most frequently in a side-chapel in a Benedictine abbey.

 

[Rich_C]

You’ll find a lot of older Benedictine chapels where the altar is between the nave and the choir (choir stalls behind the nave) so that the celebrant is actually facing the other members of his community while the faithful in the nave are behind him. So he’s actually doing both versus populum and ad orientem at the same time!

The diversity of the orders is interesting yes, but you can hardly call facing the choir “ad populum.” Just saying.

 

[SonCatcher]

Yes to both questions of the OP.

But I’m curious about your abbey. Any idea which order? Benedictines tend to have a long-standing tradition of celebrating even the EF Mass versus populum at least concerning their communities. You’ll find a lot of older Benedictine chapels where the altar is between the nave and the choir (choir stalls behind the nave) so that the celebrant is actually facing the other members of his community while the faithful in the nave are behind him. So he’s actually doing both versus populum and ad orientem at the same time! Monte Cassino in Italy is built like that (and the OF Mass is still celebrated that way), but the newish abbey church at the abbey I’m associated with (1994) has the choir between the nave and the altar so that the concelebrants are always versus populum for both the faithful and the community.

Facing their community is a long-established Benedictine tradition. So is the fact that there’s no tabernacle on the main altar, it is most frequently in a side-chapel in a Benedictine abbey.

I looked it up and apparently the priest was discussing the layout of the chapel pointing to the geographic East.

 

[otjm]

Yes to both questions of the OP.

But I’m curious about your abbey. Any idea which order? Benedictines tend to have a long-standing tradition of celebrating even the EF Mass versus populum at least concerning their communities. You’ll find a lot of older Benedictine chapels where the altar is between the nave and the choir (choir stalls behind the nave) so that the celebrant is actually facing the other members of his community while the faithful in the nave are behind him. So he’s actually doing both versus populum and ad orientem at the same time! Monte Cassino in Italy is built like that (and the OF Mass is still celebrated that way), but the newish abbey church at the abbey I’m associated with (1994) has the choir between the nave and the altar so that the concelebrants are always versus populum for both the faithful and the community.

Facing their community is a long-established Benedictine tradition. So is the fact that there’s no tabernacle on the main altar, it is most frequently in a side-chapel in a Benedictine abbey.

That is interesting, as the Trappist abbey I occasionally attend Mass at is just the reverse (at least for Sunday Mass); the choir is behind the celebrant and he faces the laity. It has been too long since I went to Mass at the Benedictine abbey, but my recollection is that the altar is between the choir stalls and where the old altar used to be; so the celebrant faces all.

 

[otjm]

The diversity of the orders is interesting yes, but you can hardly call facing the choir “ad populum.” Just saying.

Well, again speaking of both the Trappist and Benedictine abbeys I am familiar with, prior to the promulgation of the OF, both had the altar at one end of the church/chapel, and the priest faced the liturgical east (one faced geographical west, the other east). So yes, I think you could call the change ad populum if for no other reason than it is not ad orientem.

 

[otjm]

Does anyone know…

Can priests celebrate Novus Ordo ad orientem?

And are there documents that talk about lay people receiving Communion at Novus Ordo, kneeling and on the tongue? I have heard that this is allowed… does anyone have any Church documents on this? Just because I hear different things sometimes and that got me confused. btw I live in North America (Canada), if that is relevant.

thanks!

As noted elsewhere, the norm is standing. Kneeling is allowed.

As to reception on the tongue, the universal norm is on the tongue, and it is up to the bishop to allow in the hand.

 

[OraLabora]

The diversity of the orders is interesting yes, but you can hardly call facing the choir “ad populum.” Just saying.

But at our abbey you couldn’t call it ad orientem either as facing the choir faces geographic west, whereas facing the altar would face geographic and liturgical east.

But given that this is a concelebrated Mass (and there really are no facilities to go back to individually celebrated Masses), if they were to go to ad orientem it would look very weird. With 15 or so monks concelebrating along with a couple of visiting priests most Sundays, the altar and everything happening on it would be completely hidden from view from everyone in the church, including the non-celebrating monks, other than the priests concelebrating.

I looked it up and apparently the priest was discussing the layout of the chapel pointing to the geographic East.

That makes more sense. That’s the traditional layout for an abbey inasmuch as the geography allows it.