Back to Basics

The first thing about the Traditional Mass which will impress even the casual observer is the direction the priest is facing at the altar. It is incorrect to say he has his “back to the people;” rather, he along with the congregation he leads faces “East” toward God. The direction of prayer flows to the altar, which is Calvary, and up to Heaven. The Priest can be likened to a military general, leading his army onto the battlefield. The Mass is our best defense in the battle between good and evil. The direction the priest faces at Mass also demonstrates the intimacy of the connection between the altar and the man who stands in the person of Christ, the High Priest. Offering the Mass, especially during the consecration, the priest loses himself and becomes a fitting instrument for the realization of Christ’s sacramental presence among us. He faces East, from where we expect the Lord to come in glory. We say the priest is liturgically positioned “ad orientem.” The priest must focus his attention on the action of the sacrifice, with as few distractions as possible. Facing the altar (and tabernacle) help to facilitate that.

In September 2009 Bishop Edward Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa Oklahoma published an article in the Catholic Magazine of his diocese, explaining his decision to celebrate the Masses at his cathedral, in both forms “ad orientem,” with the priest using the high altar, facing the same direction as the worshiping assembly. He writes:

In the last 40 years, however, this shared orientation was lost; now the priest and the people have become accustomed to facing in opposite directions. The priest faces the people while the people face the priest, even though the Eucharistic Prayer is directed to the Father and not to the people. This innovation was introduced after the Vatican Council, partly to help the people understand the liturgical action of the Mass by allowing them to see what was going on, and partly as an accommodation to contemporary culture where people who exercise authority are expected to face directly the people they serve, like a teacher sitting behind her desk. Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects.

First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition. Secondly, it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of liturgical stage.

Bishop Slattery offered the traditional Mass on April 24, 2010 in a packed national Basilica in Washington DC, during which he preached perhaps one of the most poignant sermons on the restoration of tradition ever heard on American soil. The attention to the liturgical life of the Church happening in dioceses such as Tulsa, are key elements to the renewal of Catholic identity and culture envisioned by our Holy Father Pope Benedict; even since before his election to the Papacy. This is evident by the ideas he sets forth in his work “Spirit of the Liturgy” in the year 2000, and the pivotal 2005 Christmas address given to the Roman Curia, in which our Holy Father set forth his plan to heal the wounds of rupture, and thereby examine the true spirit of the Second Vatican Council and what its fathers intended, from a hermeneutic of continuity with the sacred Tradition of the Church.