Or maybe it would be better to say, should he?
I go to a parish built in 1962 that my pastor is considering renovating. When it was built, the original plans called for the Tabernacle to be built off to the side where the baptismal font is, but a Monsignor from the area intervened to make sure that it was placed in the sanctuary, perfectly centred behind the altar.
Jump ahead to about 10 years ago - a visiting Cardinal came and commented about the Tabernacle’s position in the church and how it should be moved from the centre (but it was just as a suggestion, he made that clear). Instead, the priest at the time (now Monsignor) had the Tabernacle reinforced to the floor with concrete and extremely strong metal supports, all invisible under the marble base. I thought that was a beautiful sign of dedication to the Eucharist’s central role in our worship.
Well now with the planned renovations, our pastor would like to make some nice changes; but he is also requiring that is we want any of them to be done, the Tabernacle has to be moved (in the bulletin he even said that it was someone “scruples” that prevented it from being off to the side in the first place…). It seems like entrapment to me. I know that he’s not necessarily wrong in doing this, but the layout of the church works beautifully as it is.
Is he allowed to demand that, if we want renovations done, we have to move the Tabernacle from the centre? Why is there such a move towards this design?
