The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Two Steps Backward

October 23, 2008

Do you ever get a straw-that-breaks-the camel's-back moment ? We all do ! Well I had one of those during the Pope's trip to Sydney for World Youth Day (WYD). No, it wasn't the grass-skirted men bringing the Gospel book in procession to the deacon - men whom it should be pointed out were natives of the island of Tonga (and not Aboriginal Australians as I fondly imagined - a little "inculturation" I vainly thought) - when the announcer said that these fellows were a priest and seminarians to boot I still didn't flip out. No, what upset me, big time, was something far more serious in the battle for liturgical ideals... let me explain.

When Pope Benedict traveled to Australia for world youth day one act of the trip above all others said it all: the consecration of the new altar versus populum (facing the people) in the Catholic Cathedral in Sydney. Why was this such a blow ? Well do you remember the Mass in January in the Sistine Chapel and all the hoopla about the Pope with his “back to the people” (rather than the emphasis on offering the sacrifice of the Mass together with the people in one common direction to the Lord) ? As Cardinal Ratzinger, the current Pope wrote extensively on the need for Mass ad orientem (facing east) – why would he see the need to consecrate a permanent altar facing the people given his supposed objections to the practice ? Just read the extended passage from his book on the liturgy which appeared in English in 2000:

But what about the altar? In what direction should we pray during the Eucharistic liturgy? (…) The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is closed in on itself. The common turning toward the east was not a "celebration toward the wall'", it did not mean that the priest "had his back to the people": the priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem, so in the Christian liturgy the congregation looked together "toward the Lord" . As one of the fathers of Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy, J. A. Jungmann, put it, it was much more a question of priest and people facing in the same direction, knowing that together they were in a procession toward the Lord. They did not close themselves into a circle; they did not gaze at one another; but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us. (…)

On the other hand, a common turning to the east during the Eucharistic Prayer remains essential. This is not a case of something accidental, but of what is essential. Looking at the priest has no importance. What matters is looking together at the Lord. It is not now a question of dialogue but of common worship, of setting off toward the One who is to come. What corresponds with the reality of what is happening is not the closed circle but the common movement forward, expressed in a common direction for prayer. (…)

A more important objection is of the practical order. Ought we really to be rearranging everything all over again? Nothing is more harmful to the liturgy than a constant activism, even if it seems to be for the sake of genuine renewal. I see a solution in a suggestion that comes from the insights of Erik Peterson. Facing east, as we heard, was linked with the "sign of the Son of Man", with the Cross, which announces the Lord's Second Coming. That is why very early on the east was linked with the sign of the Cross. Where a direct common turning toward the east is not possible, the cross can serve as the interior "east" of faith. It should stand in the middle of the altar and be the common point of focus for both priest and praying community. In this way we obey the ancient call to prayer: "Conveysi ad Dominum", Turn toward the Lord! In this way we look together at the One whose death tore the veil of the Temple-the One who stands before the Father for us and encloses us in his arms in order to make us the new and living Temple. Moving the altar cross to the side to give an uninterrupted view of the priest is something I regard as one of the truly absurd phenomena of recent decades. Is the cross disruptive during Mass? Is the priest more important than the Lord? This mistake should be corrected as quickly as possible; it can be done without further rebuilding. The Lord is the point of reference. He is the rising sun of history. That is why there could be a cross of the Passion, which represents the suffering Lord who for us let his side be pierced, from which flowed blood and water (Eucharist and Baptism), as well as a cross of triumph, which expresses the idea of the Second Coming and guides our eyes toward it. For it is always the one Lord: Christ yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).

The Spirit of the Liturgy, Joseph Card. Ratzinger,
Ignatius, San Francisco, 2000, pp 76 - 84

What upset me, then, about the consecration of this altar was that for the last 40 years the Cathedral in Sydney has had the original East-facing altar left intact. Indeed George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney - a much-touted theological and liturgical conservative, a supposed disciple of Pope Benedict, celebrated a pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form last year on the original altar ! BUT, only now, AFTER 40 YEARS, he decided to erect a permanent fixed altar facing the people ? Pope Benedict, the man who is on record for wanting a return to the eastern-facing altar agreed to consecrate the western-facing one in direct contradiction to his own liturgical principles. If that isn't sending mixed messages then what do two steps back look like to you ?

+TF

PS. If the Pope can change his mind on the direction of the altar in the last 8 months from the Sistine Chapel to Sydney - what chance has the Motu proprio got in 2 years' time when it comes up for review by the World's Catholic Bishops ? The whole thing is a house of cards set to come tumbling down !