Friday, December 12, 2008

Some Recent Comments on Celebration Ad-orientem

Over at the New Litugical Movement, there have been some interesting comments by priests and bishops introducing ad-orientem celebration.

This ancient practice also avoids giving the impression that the priest and the congregation are engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. The third reason was that it reduces the temptation to regard the celebrant as an actor on a liturgical stage. When he and the congregation together face forward to Christ, it makes it easier to visualize that the priest is offering the Mass in the person of Christ. Bp Edward Slattery Dioces of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Why? To restore a healthy sense of the sacred, the transcendent. So that this is not perceived as a social hour or “Entertainment Tonight”, but the Church’s worship of the triune God. Fr. Peter Stravinskas

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