Two Altars?

[Rebecca_New]

Tonight at a meeting, our Parish Priest stated that there were two Altars, #1 the Altar for the Consecration of the Eucharist and #2the Altar for the Word of God-the lectors podium. For some reason this really caused me to Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[crusader4life]

A *pulpit *is made for reading, not an altar.

There shouldn’t be two altars. The altar is special and is where the sacrament of the Eucharist takes place (and it usually contain an altar stone). It’s inappropriate to have another altar for lectoring. An altar’s purpose is for the Holy Sacrifice.

Even if a pulpit wasn’t available I believe the original altar would be used for reading… or the person would just pick up the book and read the Word in his/her hands.

If there were two altars…when a lector go in front of the church does he/she bow to the “lector altar” then come around behind that altar and then bow to the real altar before reading? What would happen?

Here’s what The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) says:
267. Minor altars should be fewer in number. In new churches they should be placed in chapels separated in some way from the body of the church.[82]

That’s a round-about way of explaining that, here, wording is important! An altar is for the Holy Sacrifice, a pulpit is for reading the Holy Word off of.

 

[quasimodo]

It strikes me as a misguided euphemism or something of the sort.

I’ll bet they want to elevate the Liturgy of the Word to a level equal to the Eucharistic sacrifice in the minds of the audience. If there are two altars (I imagine their reasoning) then the two parts of the liturgy must be equal. No elevation is necessary however.

Since there is no sacrifice presented at the ambo / lectern / pulpit, it doesn’t fit.

Of course I could be smoking crazy mushrooms. Again.

 

[Rebecca_New]

Humanity lost without the Gospels. In today’s loss of respect for the Gospels I can see why our Dear Pastor is trying to make a point. Father did keep repeating that we fully believe in the Real Presence. Thank you for your responses, they have helped a lot.