Ad Orientem in Ordinary Form of Mass

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Should more Catholic parishes celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass, Ad Orientem? (Facing towards the alter). I have been to a Ukrainian Catholic Church service where this did happen during most of the Mass.

Let me know your thoughts on this!
 
I think both Ad Orientem (AO) and Versus Populum/ Towards the People (VP) have rich histories in Catholicism, and each have their own benefits.

I’d like to see a more even split, maybe 50/50, as opposed to the current 5/95 split in the Roman West.
 
Either way is an acceptable option. I think the fact that most Masses are not offered this way reflects the desires of both the priests and the people.
 
Parishes with clip-on microphones would not have the problem that the prayers are more difficult to hear, but would have the advantage of the priest facing in the same direction as they do. (Well, except churches who place pews in the round or 1/2 round, so that some of the people are facing each other…)
 
I don’t care, I leave it up to the priest.

Only comment I have is that if the priest is facing away, then he needs to either hold the host and chalice up high at the Consecration or there needs to be bells to let us know when to worship Jesus in the Eucharist.
Some parishes I attend don’t have bells, and also at some parishes, the priest is physically unable due to age or infirmity to hold the host or chalice up above his head.
If he’s facing us, it’s not a problem. If he’s facing away, there would be a problem, unless bells let us know what’s happening.
 
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I personally believe there should be a return to Ad Orientem, because I personally believe it more clearly symbolizes the theology of the Mass than Versus Populum does.
 
I’m sorry, but tat argument doesn’t convince me. An omnipresent God is not limited to being behind the altar. He is just as much present in front of it, surely?
 
More like 1/99 currently ;).

At our cathedral the priest faces the people but grand candles and a crucifix are arranged in the so called “Benedictine arrangement”. For important feaats such as Christmas or Easter they break out super fancy gigantic candlesticks. The result is almost a little rood screen or iconostasis. I love it.
 
No one is saying that the Omnipresent God is limited to behind the Altar.
 
paperwight said:
I’m sorry, but tat argument doesn’t convince me. An omnipresent God is not limited to being behind the altar. He is just as much present in front of it, surely?
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He is actually present on the altar at the consecration, so whatever direction the priest faces, he is facing God from the moment of consecration onwards.

That said, either direction is licit. I’ve been to Masses in either orientation. In some places versus populum simply doesn’t work, such as an altar built against a wall. In other places like at our abbey where Mass is concelebrated by 15-20 priests (depending on the number of visiting priests), ad orientem would not work.

So instead of creating another source of division arguing which is better or not, why not try something novel: accept that the best (and sometimes only) orientation is very much dependent on the layout of the church/altar, and on other factors (such as the community dimension for monastics), and leave it up to the celebrant to chose according to circumstances?

Because while rarer before the council, versus populum certainly did exist then, and not only because “east” was also where the nave was. So it’s not as if versus populum is a novel post-Conciliar concept.
 
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OP, I see you’re relatively new here. Did you do a search on this topic first? I feel like it’s one of those we’ve beaten to death around here.

Bottom line - either way is acceptable. I’ve been to both, I admire both, and I can give reasons for both, but it’s ultimately going to boil down to preference.
 
@Cor_ad_Cor

I have not. Thanks for the suggestion. And since I am new I am unsure what “OP” means. What is that shortened to?
 
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“The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above but is locked into itself. The common turning toward the East was not a “celebration toward the wall.” it did not mean that the priest ‘had his back to the people.’ The priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem, so in the Christian Liturgy the congregation looked together ‘toward the Lord.’”

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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paperwight said:
I’m sorry, but tat argument doesn’t convince me. An omnipresent God is not limited to being behind the altar. He is just as much present in front of it, surely?
Click to expand...
The priest is facing The Lord because he’s literally looking at the Tabernacle when doing Ad Orientem. That’s literally why. Because, yes while God is spiritually present everywhere, He is physically present in the tabernacle when their are consecrated hosts in there.
 
paperwight said:
I’m sorry, but tat argument doesn’t convince me. An omnipresent God is not limited to being behind the altar. He is just as much present in front of it, surely?
Click to expand...
It’s not “facing God” but “facing East.”

East not because it is God’s location, but the direction from which Christ is to return. That is why churches are built facing that way, why the people face that way, and why the priest (used to) faces that way.

There are ancient churches run Rome itself where the priest has always faced the people because the only place to put the altar in these converted buildings was in the west. During Mass at these churches, the people turn (away from the altar) to face east three (iirc) times over the course of the Mass.

And this is nothing new; it predates Trent.

hawk
 
phil19034 said:
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paperwight:
I’m sorry, but tat argument doesn’t convince me. An omnipresent God is not limited to being behind the altar. He is just as much present in front of it, surely?
Click to expand...
The priest is facing The Lord because he’s literally looking at the Tabernacle when doing Ad Orientem. That’s literally why. Because, yes while God is spiritually present everywhere, He is physically present in the tabernacle when their are consecrated hosts in there.
Click to expand...
But the Sacrifice if the Mass is not offered to the Real Presence, The Sacrifice is of Jesus to the Father.
 
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