The Valley Catholic November 20, 2018 | Page 11

tvc.dsj.org | November 20, 2018
COMMENTARY
11
Mass Confusion
By Father Gerald D. Coleman P.S.S.
Adjunct professor,
Graduate Department of Pastoral
Ministries, Santa Clara University
There is a growing interest among some priests and
laity to celebrate Mass ad orientem (toward the East).
This designation should not be labeled as the priest
facing the wall or the tabernacle with his back to the
people, but rather a posture of praying to God. The
earliest Church documents that describe the Eucharist
show differences in the way it was celebrated from
region to region, Rome, Jerusalem, Milan. These cen-
ters of the Church had different ways of celebrating
the Eucharist from the earliest days. However, there
was never a question that it was the same Eucharist In
the 16 th century, the Council of Trent endorsed some
of this diversity, but called for a greater centrality in
promoting uniformity.
In 1984 Saint John Paul II grave permission under
certain conditions to restore the use of the Missal pro-
mulgated by Saint John XXIII. In 1988 he established
a Commission for the pastoral oversight of those
Catholics who remain attached to the Mass as it was
celebrated in the Roman Missal of 1962. In 2007, Pope
Benedict XVI gave permission to celebrate the whole
liturgy according to the norms of 1962. He stated that
the Missal of 1962 (the extraordinary form) and the
Missal of 2008 (the ordinary form) are both legitimate
forms of the one Roman Rite.
Benedict exhorted the whole Church to “gener-
ously open our hearts and make room for everything
that the faith itself allows.” The Pope’s Apostolic Letter
aimed at legitimizing the extraordinary form of the
liturgy “as a precious treasure to be preserved” and
“promoting reconciliation at the heart of the Church.”
This brief history serves as background for the
confusion over the proper direction the priest should
face during Mass. After the Second Vatican Council
one of the most evident liturgical changes was the
celebration of Mass versus populum (toward the peo-
ple). This stance was adopted throughout the Latin
Church and has become the prevailing practice for
the celebration of Mass.
The Church teaches that it is legitimate for the
priest to celebrate Mass facing the people, but has not
forbidden or excluded the possibility of celebrating
Mass ad orientem. The crucial point is that the Mass
is a common act of worship where priest and people
together listen to the Word of God and celebrate the
Eucharist The whole congregation, priest and people,
are praying together to God through Jesus.
“I believe that the correct answer
is the celebration of Mass facing
the people as it fosters a
“greater centrality in promoting unity.”
Some believe that this common act of worship
is best celebrated when both priest and people are
turned toward the Lord facing the same way, mani-
festing a common act of worship and symbolizing
our common pilgrimage toward the Lord. In his book
The Spirit of the Liturgy, Cardinal Ratzinger expressed
his belief that this common posture best evokes the
mystery of the transcendent God.
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the
Second Vatican Council (with a vote by the Bishops
of 2,147 to 4, and promulgated by Saint Paul VI) im-
portantly sets forth foundational principles about
the celebration of the Mass. It aims to shift the Mass
from a clerical sacred drama to an act of the entire
community. The key passage is: “Mother Church ear-
nestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that
Catherine of
Alexandria
c. 287-305
November 25
Crosiers
Catherine is thought to have been born to a noble family in
Alexandria, Egypt. Through a vision, this scholarly young
woman converted to Christianity and began evangelizing others,
including the wife of the pagan emperor who was persecuting
Christians. According to legend, after she defied the emperor
and refuted philosophers brought in to test her faith, she was
imprisoned and tortured. She was put on a rotating spiked wheel;
when it broke, she was beheaded. She is venerated as the Great
Martyr St. Catherine in the Orthodox tradition and her voice was
among those heard by St. Joan of Arc. She is the patron saint of
wheelwrights, and also a patron of jurists, philosophers, students
and teachers.
Saints
© 2013 Catholic News Service
fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical
celebrations which is demanded by the very nature
of the liturgy. Such a participation by the Christian
people … is their right and duty by reason of their
baptism. In the full restoration and promotion of the
sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all
the people is the aim to be considered before all else;
for it is the primary and indispensable source from
which the faithful are to derive the true Christian
spirit; and therefore pastors of souls must zealously
strive to achieve it…” (no. 14)
Those who favor celebrating Mass ad orientem
insist that this way best fosters humility in the priest
and prevents his ego from taking over “as it does in
versus populum.” Mass facing the East also forces us to
recognize, without any doubt or confusion, just who
it is we are worshiping. Cardinal Ratzinger wrote
that “the turning of the priest toward the people has
turned the community into a self-enclosed circle
… locked into itself.” The priest “becomes the real
point of reference for the whole Liturgy. Everything
depends on him. We have to see him, to be involved
in what he is doing.”
This argument strains credulity as it assumes that
a priest celebrating Mass facing the people is centered
on himself and his ego. Neither humility or egoism
aligns with either practice.
We must be careful not to chip away at the Spirit-
guided reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Mass
celebrated toward the people seems the best way of
fulfilling the norm set forth in the Constitution on
the Sacred Liturgy. Both forms (ad orientem and versus
populum) may provide spiritual enrichment and can
promote the communion of the whole Church as an
expression of unity in diversity.
It’s not a question of which form is right and which
is wrong. The main point is which form best honors
the teaching of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
I believe that the correct answer is the celebration of
Mass facing the people as it fosters a “greater central-
ity in promoting unity.”