Mass at 15th Annual National Catholic Family Conference

[Mt19_26]

Did anyone here attend the Sunday Mass at the 15th Annual National Family Catholic Conference this past Sunday? During the homily the priest explained the practice of facing east and quoted many statements made by the then, Cardinal Ratzinger, supporting facing east. The Mass was celebrated facing east and much of the Mass was in Latin. Does anyone here think celebrating the Mass facing east will become much more widespread during Pope Benedect’s pontificate?

 

[mgy100]

Not likely in my diocese. The bishop forbids latin, and almost all of the parishes have been tranformed… free standing altar and a tabernacle somewhere on the side.

 

[Mom_of_5]

Mt19:26:

Did anyone here attend the Sunday Mass at the 15th Annual National Family Catholic Conference this past Sunday? During the homily the priest explained the practice of facing east and quoted many statements made by the then, Cardinal Ratzinger, supporting facing east. The Mass was celebrated facing east and much of the Mass was in Latin. Does anyone here think celebrating the Mass facing east will become much more widespread during Pope Benedect’s pontificate?

Please explain the practice of facing east during prayer and the Mass. I have never heard of this in the Catholic church.

Love and peace
Mom

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Historically, most churches were built with the altar at the east end. The priest and the people faced the same direction except when the priest turns around to bless the people or to give directions. This remains the case in the Byzantine Catholic Churches.

The fact that the altar is freestanding does not preclude this since most of the churches from the first 500 years had free-standing altars. In fact, putting the altar against the wall was a late development that caused a lot of grief!

With the changes in the Mass following Vatican II the idea of “full, active participation” seems to have been interpreted as the priest facing the people so they could see what was happening. While it it true that this does enhance the visual aspect of the Mass, that is not what creates “full, active participation.”

Cardinal Ratzinger, prior to his election as Supreme Pontiff, did question the wisdom of this change.

Deacon Ed

 

[Pappa_Matt]

I also attended that Mass and was pleased to see that efforts were made to follow the Traditions of the Church. If you recall, Fr. Fessio stated that now Pope Benedict XVI wants to revert back to the original intent of Vatican II. That is, a renewal based on our 2,000 year Tradition. He indicated what had happened after Vatican II is that the Un-Orthodox actually took the opportunity when renewal was called for to simply through out all that they decided was not to their liking. It is his opinion that they made the Sacrifice of the Mass centered on the Priest rather than on Christ. Thus the Priest facing the people has become the “MC”. He now sits on a “Throne” in the center of the Altar. In my church, they actually replaced the Tabernacle with a flower pot! The Tabernacle is now in a separate building joined to the main building by a door!

Hopefully in our life time all this nonsense will be reversed and we will see the church returned to the church of our childhood.