ASK FATHER: Does a priest need a dispensation to say Mass “ad orientem”?

[yankeesouth]

ASK FATHER: Does a priest need a dispensation to say Mass “ad orientem”? | Fr. Z's Blog

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Hello Father. I recently asked my Pastor if he would ever celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass ad orientem. He replied that a dispensation is required from our Bishop. I’ve never heard such a thing. Could this be true? Thanks very much.

No, that is not true.

 

[Maximilian75]

That reader is gravely misinformed, then…

 

[Augustinian]

Misinformed, sure. But wouldn’t say that the matter of the misunderstand is “grave” at all.

Nothing a layman can do about it, the direction which the priest says Mass is out of his control totally.

 

[Maximilian75]

I meant grave as in “badly” not as in “mortal”

 

[FrDavid96]

Since there exists no law requiring Mass to be celebrated versus populum no dispensation is needed.