Vatican liturgy chief calls for priests to face east during Mass

'It is legitimate and complies with the letter and spirit of the Council.'

During an interview, Cardinal Robert Sarah explained the importance of priests facing east during Mass.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In an interview with French Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne, Cardinal Sarah, who is the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, explained the priests were not required to celebrate Mass while facing the people.

Though it seems odd, the Cardinal explained this method was "a possibility, but not an obligation."

According to Catholic Herald, the Cardinal said both readers and listeners should face each other during the Liturgy "But as soon as we reach the moment when one addressed God - from the Offertory onwards - it is essential that the priest and faithful look together towards the east. This corresponds exactly to what the Council Fathers wanted."

Rather than viewing the act of facing east as a symbol of priests turning their backs on parishioners "or against them," Cardinal Sarah simply stated everyone would be "turned in the same direction: towards the Lord who comes."

The practice in which Catholic priests face east during Mass is called ad orientem worship. It was once an ancient custom for churches to be erected with the entrance at the west so when it was time, only the priests had to turn.

Cardinal Sarah explained: "It is legitimate and complies with the letter and spirit of the Council. As prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, I wish to recall that the celebration versus orientum is authorised by the rubrics, which specify the times when the celebrant must turn to the people. It is therefore not necessary to have special permission to celebrate facing the Lord."

According to Roman Catholic Man, a website "for Roman Catholic Men by Roman Catholic Men" and designed to help Catholics understand and train for righteous living, there are ten advantages of ad orientem worship:

1. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is experienced as having a theocentric direction and focus.
2. The faithful are spared the tiresome clerocentrism that has so overtaken the celebration of Holy Mass in the past forty years.
3. The faithful are spared the tiresome clerocentrism that has so overtaken the celebration of Holy Mass in the past forty years.
4. The sacrificial character of the Mass is wonderfully expressed and affirmed.
5. Almost imperceptibly one discovers the rightness of praying silently at certain moments, of reciting certain parts of the Mass softly, and of cantillating others.
6. It affords the priest celebrant the boon of a holy modesty.
7. I find myself more and more identified with Christ, Eternal High Priest and Hostia perpetua, in the liturgy of the heavenly sanctuary, beyond the veil, before the Face of the Father.
8. During the Canon of the Mass I am graced with a profound recollection.
9. The people have become more reverent in their demeanour.
10. The entire celebration of Holy Mass has gained in reverence, attention, and devotion.

It is obvious Cardinal Sarah's incentive is supported by some but the Vatican has yet to comment on the enactment of the ad orientem worship in future Masses.

The interview was the Cardinals second attempt to bring up the particular style and it appears he has no plans to discontinue his efforts.

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