Should the tabernacle be placed in church or chapel?

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St.Claire

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A few years back our bishop sent out a directive through his office of liturgy and worship that all newly constructed and renovated churches must have a separate chapel for the Blessed Sacrament. As a result of this recent directive many new and renovated churches in our diocese have moved the tabernacle out of the main body of the church into a side or back chapel. When I’ve visited these churches for the first time I don’t even know which way to direct my genuflection because I can’t locate which side the tabernacle is located.

It makes me sad to think that the body of our lord is housed in a tabernacle that is sometimes so hidden away that we must search to find him.
 
The tabernacle needs to be replaced right back in the center of the sanctuary where it belongs and never should have been moved in the first place.
 
Regarding placement of the tabernacle, the current law of the Church is clear and unequivocal on this issue: “The tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved should be placed in a part of the church that is prominent, conspicuous, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer” (canon 938 §2).

Please read "How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place? The Placement of a Tabernacle in a Church"

cuf.org/faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=135
 
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RomanRiteTeen:
I’m blessed with a very traditional parish, albeit in a modern structure. We, however, keep the tabernacle right where it belongs, in front behind the altar.

http://www.mclaurinweb.com/mncj/Sanctuary.jpg
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That is absoultely lovely. Thank you for posting the photo.
 
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St.Claire:
A few years back our bishop sent out a directive through his office of liturgy and worship that all newly constructed and renovated churches must have a separate chapel for the Blessed Sacrament. As a result of this recent directive many new and renovated churches in our diocese have moved the tabernacle out of the main body of the church into a side or back chapel. When I’ve visited these churches for the first time I don’t even know which way to direct my genuflection because I can’t locate which side the tabernacle is located.

It makes me sad to think that the body of our lord is housed in a tabernacle that is sometimes so hidden away that we must search to find him.
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**This is very interesting:hmmm: our bishop (Tod Brown) did the same thing. **

**Quote from Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission

"Brown sent two directives through his office of liturgy and worship: all who receive communion must do so standing (prohibiting kneeling for reception), and all newly constructed and renovated churches must have a separate chapel for the Blessed Sacrament".
**
click on link losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2004/0406rk.htm
 
DON"T HIDE CHRIST!!! I say put him in the center, not in a side chapel!
 
With all due respect to the bishops who hide Christ in Blessed Sacrament Chapels they do so because I feel they doubt the Real Presence in the first place. I know that sounds harsh, but to listen to some of them, and other modernists I know, I really wonder if they believe that the piece of bread IS REALLY the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

I know someone who converted to Catholicism and believes in Transubstantiation, but knows a priest who told him he no longer did but ascribed to consubstantiation. I have run across modernists of the same persuasion (not priests). Thus, since it isn’t central, hide it, is their thinking.

The Sacrament should be front and center.
 
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NWUArmyROTC:
I know someone who converted to Catholicism and believes in Transubstantiation, but knows a priest who told him he no longer did but ascribed to consubstantiation…
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This is terrible! Would the Masses this priest celebrates then be invalid? :mad:
 
I ask what is the Central part of the Mass? What one Object is Most Holy in Catholocism? Where do we find Christ Body, Blood & Divinity in a Catholic Church? See CCC 1359.

We have two churches in my Parish. The old one built in the 1950s has the style of an old Spainish Church. The tabernacle is in the center of the old Altar. The bigger new Church has the tabernacle in the wall off-center of the Altar. Yes it is in the wall. A door opens to reveale the tabernacle. Why it is there, I do not know. Privately I assume the locked door is there for protection. But in the old church ( yes some masses are said there) it is as always, center and high.
 
When I go into a church where the tablernacle is missing, it tells me one thing. It tells me the priests and congregation despise and hold in great contempt the very Person of Jesus Christ Himself.
 
It really is sad to see this happening in so many parishes. In my diocese, there are a few that you walk in to, and you can not tell where the tabernacle is. In one parish, after about five minutes, I finally found it in a back recess of the church, in a dimly lit area, in an unremarkable fashion (it was hard to tell it was a tabernacle.)

The parish that I attend is beautiful. It is front and center in the sanctuary, where it should be. A light shines done from above that shows everyone where it is. I attend a Tridentine church. Granted, there are many wonderful things that Vatican II did for us, but I feel that some of the reverence has been lost. (Through no fault of the Council, just those who misinterpreted it) I suspect though that after another fifty years or so, things will balance out as far as liturgical abuses and the like. After all, the same thing happened the last time the liturgy was changed some hundreds of years ago (and people were skeptical of the Tridentine Mass, because it was new!)
God Bless,
Dean

(By the way, I find the Tridentine AND Novus Ordo masses to be quite beautiful!)
 
HumbleSinner said:
**This is very interesting:hmmm: our bishop (Tod Brown) did the same thing. **

Quote from Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission

"Brown sent two directives through his office of liturgy and worship: all who receive communion must do so standing (prohibiting kneeling for reception), and all newly constructed and renovated churches must have a separate chapel for the Blessed Sacrament".

click on link losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2004/0406rk.htm
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**We have the same bishop. I live in Orange County too. Let’s pray really hard for our bishop and the Diocese of Orange.:gopray2: **
P.S. Thank you for posting the link.
 
We have some things I don’t go along with at our Church, but Jesus is right where he should be in our Church. I feel so blessed after reading other’s stories…Very Sad!!😦

:blessyou:
Annie
 
“In church our attention must be for Jesus Christ only; friends must be as if they were not. Jesus is everything: the attention of the court centers on the king; he is the only one honored” St. Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868). Even in churches where the tabernable remains on the altar or side altar, people talk before, during and after Mass and the bishops and priests don’t seem to care. No wonder the bishops want Jesus, the King, removed to another place, so they can justifiy allowing all the non-reverent acts that take place routinely in our churches, e.g., joking priests, self-centered cantors and announcers, ushers who greet people on the way to Holy Communion with, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’, etc. applause for Knights of Columbus, chairmen of parish councils and heads of St. Vincent de Paul societies, who speak during or after Mass from the altar, and think they are Johnny Carson reincarnate. If our bishops and priests would obey the instructions of the G.I.R.M. and Redemptionis Sacramentum, these problems would not exist.
 
Chris Jacobsen:
When I go into a church where the tablernacle is missing, it tells me one thing. It tells me the priests and congregation despise and hold in great contempt the very Person of Jesus Christ Himself.
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Please don’t judge the priest or the congregation for the architecture over which they may not have had any control.
 
I don’t object to having the main tabernacle in a side chape. We have one which is beautiful and a fitting place to honor Jesus. It is easy to see, it says Chapel above the door. We have adoration there and many small groups worship there.Our Chapel is well used. The church is often used for gatherings other than Mass.We have 5000 families . We need to use the church sometimes for meetings, rehearsals, musical gatherings etc. It would not be fitting to have the tabernacle in a room which is not observing reverence. We have a niche in the back wall for the tabernacle. On special occaisions we can put a tabernacle there.
 
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Seatuck:
The church is often used for gatherings other than Mass.We have 5000 families . We need to use the church sometimes for meetings, rehearsals, musical gatherings etc. It would not be fitting to have the tabernacle in a room which is not observing reverence. We have a niche in the back wall for the tabernacle. On special occaisions we can put a tabernacle there.
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I understand what you are saying, and that many people in today’s environment do not know any better, but the church should not be used for these other events. Stadiums, stages, and auditoriums are more suitable for such things. Reverence is always to be observed in the presence of the altar of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
 
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Cherub:
I understand what you are saying, and that many people in today’s environment do not know any better, but the church should not be used for these other events. Stadiums, stages, and auditoriums are more suitable for such things. Reverence is always to be observed in the presence of the altar of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
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This was in the Q & A forum of EWTN “Use of the church building”

Canon 1210 states, “Only those things which serve the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion are permitted in a sacred place; anything not consonant with the holiness of the place is forbidden. In an individual case, however, the ordinary can permit other uses which are not contrary to the holiness of the place.”

An accompanying commentary to the canon explains that a retreat, concert of sacred music or a sacred drama would fall within the scope of permitted activities. The bishop’s specific permission would be needed if the church were to be used for a concert of classical music which is secular in inspiration, graduation exercises, a talk on a secular topic in the interest of public good, etc. No permission may be given for anything that offends against the holiness of the place - a rock concert, a political rally, merchandising, etc.

The Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) issued a circular letter re. concerts in churches on 5 November 1987. While focusing on concert issues, the letter does discuss the rationale for the church’s restrictive use and it provides some practical directives for the non-liturgical use of the church. The letter can be found in the January 1988 edition (vol. XXIV) of the NCCB’s Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy Newsletter, and in Origins, vol 17, n. 27 (12/17/1987), pp. 486-70. If you wish a copy from the St. Joseph Foundation please provide a surafce mailing address along with your request for the “Concerts in Churches” circular letter. The noted canonist, Mr. Duane Galles, provides an excellent discussion of the CDW letter in his article “Concerts in Church,” Homiletic and Pastoral Review, November 1988

ewtn.com/vexperts/showresult.asp?RecNum=349625&Forums=0&Experts=0&Days=3000&Author=&Keyword=Concerts+in+Church&pgnu=1&groupnum=0
 
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