[Mrs. Don-o]

Until recently, the Tabrnacle in our main sanctuary was neither in the center, nor back (that is, flat against the East wall) but offset to the side and roughly aligned with the presider's chair, which was in the middle.

I found that really annoying, but felt I couldn't do anything.

Then our Bishop, God bless him, required every parish in the Diocese to put their tabernacle back at the East wall, right behind the Altar of Sacrifice.

NOW what I'm noticing is that the priest celebrating Mass, facing west (facing the congregation) ALWAYS has his back to the Tabernacle. Hmmm....

I guess this is not news: for years, everybody else has been noticing that, if their Tabernacle and Sanctuary Lamp were directly behind the priest.

But it just heightens my sense of displacement: the priest should be facing the same direction we are facing, that is, facing the altar AND the tabernacle. Otherwise, he seems like a stage-hog, a ham-actor.

Those are just my feelings. I'm not a liturgist. But the physical layout does have its significance, and what the layout here means to me is: "That guy, the priest, thinks he's the star."

>_<

No, you ain't, faddah.

[Salvation]

Our Archbishop has had every priest put a crucifix on the altar so that they can remember what’s going on. Some are free-standing, but some local vicariate priest have chosen to put the crucifix flat on the altar.

Of course, we can all see the crucifix, for that was another of his requests — crucifix in the center and tabernacle in the center.

I do think that some of the good Bishops/Archbishops are headed back to facing the tabernacle, but it is a step by step process.

We have also started kneel after the Agnus Dei, Lamb of God, and it seems to add a degree of reverence that wasn’t there before. (I know that many dioceses already were doing this, and that we are just catching up with the norm, here.)