The practice of celebrating the Eucharist “ad orientam” has never been a universal one as in practiced at all times in all places. This didn’t even become an issue until long after the supreme emphasis on the distinctive role of the priest in the Mass made it appear that the laity had no essential role to play other than through their prayers of devotion. In the church, practice usually precedes theologizing. Thus enters the apocalyptic imagery of Christ coming again in glory from the “east”. This should obviously be about poetry and not geography. Christ is the Light, and the light of the son/sun arises from the east. While a great many churches were designed with the altar at their eastern-most end, that is not true of all churches, including the great Basilica of St. Peter. There, when the Pope celebrates the altar “ad populum”, he is, indeed facing the east.
This whole issue should not have anything to do with locating the presence of God in a particular geographical direction. The Risen Lord is in our midst. He is present in the proclamation of the Word. He is present in the person of the bishop or priest. He is most especially present–Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity–upon the altar in the consecrated species. To insist that it is somehow a superior practice for the priest and people to face the east is, to my mind, gratuitous. One can certainly make a case for it, just as one can make a case for facing the people. That would be the people in whom God takes delight, the people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, the people who became one with Christ in Baptism, the people among whom Jesus Christ is present because two or more are gathered, the people who comprise a nation of priests.
When one properly understands the importance of balancing the roles of both priest and people, the direction the priest is facing takes on a whole new perspective.
There have been calumnies committed against those of us priests who have striven over the past four decades to implement both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and all the authoritative documents which followed it. We have been accused of irreverence because we don’t hold our hands in a particular way, or because we often refrain from using incense so as not to create health hazards for older people with breathing problems, or because we prefer to wear one kind of vestment over another, or because we find the use of lace effeminate, or because we choose not to wear cassocks, or choose not to wear an amice. I believe all of these issues are linked together to the notion that once we “turn the altars around” the majesty of the Church will be restored and we will all live happily everafter.
