From the Old Oligarch:
Somewhere between Durham and Fayetteville, in Dunn, NC, the Tridentine Mass springs eternal. Note the ineradicable verbal tick: "…celebrates Mass using the Tridentine rite, which involves turning his back to members of the congregation…" Can someone please find the chip in their brains which triggers this tag-line?
When we find that chip, can we substitute any of the following? "…the Tridentine Rite, which promotes awareness of God and unity between the celebrant and his congregation by making them all face God rather than each other." Or, "which reduces the self-indulgent and showman-like tendency of the priest by constantly reminding them that they are performing for, not to, the congregation." Or, "which was celebrated by Catholics for 400 years before Vatican II…"
Great observationn, somehow turning your back on Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is fine but turing your back towards the congregation is heretical. But in either case it is semantic foolishness. Whenever we face something obviously are back is in the opposite direction. Why make the natural consequence of facing something turn into some perceived slight? When soldiers face the enemy are they turning their back on those they are protecting? Now I do prefer Ad Orientem in that we all face East both clergy and congregation in worship. There has been too much of the tendency to be a conductor and entertainer in recent times.
1 comment
Wow! Cool! I basically grew up in Dunn through my elementary school years. I rode my bike to the church most mornings to serve Mass. Either they’ve built a new church or have done significant renovation to the existing one as it was a simple wooden Church. Haven’t been back to Dunn since we moved when I was about 10 yrs old (very traumatic move for me I might add – I was gonna lock myself in my bedroom and refuse to leave!).
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