Pope Benedict XVI celebrating ad orientem...

Go check out the screen shots captured and posted at NLM of the Mass celebrated this morning in the Sistine Chapel by Pope Benedict XVI....ad orientem!

Heh - a Grotto style Novus Ordo!

Hmmmmm....... I wonder if Bishop Baker will set aside the decision of his predecessor long ago which mandates that EWTN's celebrated Novus Ordo Masses be done versus populum, or facing the people.



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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Reform of the Reform: Cistercian Monks Turn Liturgical East

H/T to Fr. Z

I have featured several stories of parishes turning liturgically east - ad orientem during their ordinary form Masses (novus ordo), but this is the first religious order I have been able to share. If someone knows of others, please drop links into the combox and I'll follow up on them, or email me at TeDeumBlog@gmail.com.

I would actually like to make a post or post series on orders and parishes celebrating the new Mass ad orientem.

It is very heart-warming to see some of our monastics - specifically Cistercians doing this.

Some Grotto-goers may recall a monk who comes to Grotto a few times yearly to stay with a parishioner.

Fr. Logan, also a military chaplain, is seen hooded in these Memorial Day pictures (with one pic to the right) ahead of the 9:00am, Mass. When Father is with us he enjoys celebrating ad orientem, as well (I am not sure if he has celebrated the TLM at Grotto yet or not. Grotto Masses are in both ordinary and extraordinary forms and even the ordinary form has been celebrated ad orientem for many years now in both English and Latin. The vernacular Mass features much Latin, as well (the ordinaries and the Eucharistic Prayer).

Here is more from Brother Stephen's blog - Sub Tuum - which has been added to my sidebar under the blogging priests, religious and deacon's section.

In my last entry, I said that there might be liturgical developments on the very near horizon and so it has come to pass. This morning the Conventual Mass for the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God was celebrated ad orientem, which will now be the normative position for saying Mass at Our Lady of Spring Bank. (The Mass was solemn Latin in the ordinary form using the Cistercian Graduale.)

There are still many kinks and questions to address pertaining to the rank of feasts, the customs of the ordinary form v. Cistercian usage, the size of our community, and the layout of our oratory. The draft customary will certainly see much fleshing-out and many amendments over the coming months, but Fr. Prior thought that today was the appropriate day to begin to face God together, it being the first of the year and a solemnity of Mary.

I'm sure to have more to say later on this topic as we begin to sand off the rough edges, but I wanted to get the news up since I knew it would be of particular interest to some of you and, perhaps, to a somewhat broader audience, since I believe that this makes us the first house in our order to return to ad orientem celebration. (There are a few more photos here.)

Deo gratias!

See more photos in the original blogpost of Br. Stephen

I go back to something that bears repeating....

Seek not the face of the priest in the Mass,
but the Face of Almighty God!

For those men interested in a more traditional, monastic life - not necessarily "tridentine", you might want to consider the Spring Bank Abbey in Wisconsin, in your discernment.

I might point out, as well, that we should support these religious orders with purchases when we can. Go visit these Cistercians at Laser Monks, as well.

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Out of the mouths of.....teens: Ad Orientem Celebrated Mass

There was a delightful post over at the blog of Fr. Dwight Longenecker in Greenville, South Carolina. He is on staff at St. Mary's where priests recently began celebrating ad orientem, the way the ordinary form or Novus Ordo is celebrated at Grotto. He is also a chaplain at St. Joseph's Catholic school, where Father recounts a recent dialogue (emphases mine in bold with the boy's quotes in red and Father's in blue)

High Schoolers Facing East

Six high school boys stayed after Thursday's daily Mass at St Joseph's Catholic School:

"Father, why didn't you celebrate Mass facing East today?"

"I'm doing so on two days of the week, and on the other two the usual way. Do you like the Mass when I celebrate facing East?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It feels more holy. It's older right? But you're not really facing East here."

"There's something called 'liturgical East.' It's when the priest faces what used to be the East 'cause all the churches were built to face the rising sun, which was a symbol of the resurrection and also because Jesus would return to Jerusalem, which was in the East."

"Like Muslims facing Mecca."

"Sort of, but I'm not going to start wearing a turban"

"You could wear your biretta more often."

"Shall I?"

"I like Mass when you face East because it feels like you are offering the Mass for us more."

"I just like stuff that's more traditional."

"I think it feels more, well, manly. Do you know what I mean. Is that dumb?"

"That's interesting. No, I don't think it's dumb, but I have to think about why it might be true."

"I think it's good because I was thinking more about God and not you, and when you elevated the host it was like Jesus floating there. It was more mysterious. It was cool."

"Would you like me to continue saying Mass facing with you to the Lord?"

"Yes please."

"You don't feel slighted because I have turned my back to you? You sure I haven't hurt your feelings?"

Laughter all around. "You're not that good looking anyway Father."

"OK, why don't you all go to lunch now?"

When the one boy said that it felt like it was more about God than the priest when he faced liturgical east, it reminded me of my first experience. As I have so often recounted it: "I shifted in my pew as if to seek the face of the priest, only to realize a short time later, it is the face of God I should be seeking in the Mass".

Now comes a poem from Father's blog on the subject...

A Student’s Plea

No, no, Father, please don’t toss the mike
like a DJ when you preach. Please don’t be cool.
Please don’t ride a Harley motorbike
when you come to school.

Don’t wear red cowboy boots for Pentecost,
and tell dumb jokes to be our pal. Please don’t ‘high five’,
say, “Sweet!” “Awwsome!” “You suck!” “You’re toast!”
or teach us how to jive.

Don’t sing along to the latest pop band;
you don’t need to be hip and up to date,
or come to our parties with a drink in your hand,
trying to relate.

Play it straight. Say the black and do the red.
Refrain from politics and rainbow pins.
Pray for all of us, the living and the dead,
and listen to our sins.

We want you to keep the faith, you see,
but keep it as it was. We want it old.
We want it to be waiting there when we
come in from the cold.

We want you to be our Father, not our mate.
We want a solid rock; so when we roam,
we know you'll be there, waiting at the gate,
to welcome us home.

You can always get to Fr. Longenecker's blog, "Standing on my Head", by scrolling down to my sidebar section for blogging priests, religious, and deacons.



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S.C. Parish in it's "eastward" turn - Ad Orientem!

If you are interested in reading about priests who are turning their parishes much in the way Grotto did many years ago, you will be delighted to follow the lenten transition of St. Mary's Catholic parish in Greenville, South Carolina to where the priest will be facing ad orientem, or as he says, "ad Deum", sometime between Easter and Pentecost.

Brave and courageous priests are taking the time to explain to the people, as Fr. Jay Scott Newman does throughout his lenten bulletin columns, the "why", and then simply does it!

I pray the people there will learn a simple lesson that God graced me with very shortly after arriving at Assumption Grotto before I ever really knew anyone there and could be influenced.

My first interior response was, "You've got to be kidding me - he's got his back to us!"

Next, I shifted in my pew as if to seek the face of the priest, only to realize that it is the face of God I should be seeking in the Mass.

In a nutshell, that is what the ad orientem posture enables. I'll add further that , at least at Grotto, the priest is deep in meditation before he ever heads up the aisle in procession. Hence, he is not greeting people on his way up, but through his example shows us where we should be too.

This folks, is a God-centered Mass!

Deo Gratias!


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Pope Benedict to celebrate Mass using ad orientem posture

Many of you will read this too late, but at 4:00am EST, you can watch Pope Benedict celebrate a Novus Ordo Mass using the ad orientem posture. Rocco Palmo posts as follows. Note that I did not say a Tridentine.

In another significant liturgical turn at the very top, B16 will celebrate tomorrow's annual Sistine Chapel Mass for the Baptism of the Lord in the ad orientem stance -- that is, facing away from the congregation and toward the cross that stands at the chapel's back wall.

In an explanatory note from the Office for Papal Liturgical Celebrations picked up by the Italian wires, the papal MC Msgr Guido Marini announced that the Mass, to be conducted according to the post-Conciliar "Ordinary Use" approved by Paul VI, would employ the main altar of the Sistina. As a result, the note said, "at certain moments the Pope will have his shoulders [back] to the faithful and his gaze toward the Cross."

As the chapel's original altar is not freestanding, versus popolorum celebrations there have required the construction of a temporary altar and platform. While John Paul II celebrated his first Mass after his 1978 election using the permanent altar and no freestanding altar exists in the Pope's private chapel, a public papal liturgy has not been celebrated using the "common orientation" in recent memory.

"The celebration at the old altar is being restored so as not to alter the beauty and harmony of this architectural jewel," the note said, "preserving its structure from the celebratory point of view and using an option contemplated by the liturgical norms." The change of orientation, Marini's statement said, would seek to enhance "the attitude and disposition of the whole assembly."

The annual liturgy features the baptism of several infants by the pontiff. The contemporary baptismal font designed by Lello Scorzelli -- also the designer of the pastorali, the cross-topped liturgical staffs used by Paul VI and his successors -- will likewise be maintained.

Deo Gratias!


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Full text of talk by Msgr Smitz on Motu Proprio

The other day I noted an article in Envoy Magazine online in which Msgr Smitz of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, was quoted on the subject of the expected motu proprio on the Tridentine. Shawn Tribe at The New Liturgical Movement has brought us the full text of this speech via the Institute's website. You can read the full text by clicking the link below, or by following this link to the NLM post by Shawn which extracts a few interesting quotes. It is too lenghty to post in full. It does get into talk about issues pertaining to the Novus Ordo, as well, so whether you enjoy the Tridentine, or a more traditionally celebrated Novus Ordo, you will probably like reading this talk.

"The Classical Roman Rite and the Renewal of the Liturgy"

Conference by Monsignor R. Michael Schmitz

February 19, 2007

Why I enjoy the ad Orientem Posture - A spiritual case

I posted a comment at the New Liturgical Movement (NLM) under another article in which Shawn Tribe discusses pamphlets being made - in particular the first one, which will address the ad orientem posture of the priest. This is a favorite topic of mine for very personal reasons. Some did not feel it was a good place to start. Shawn defended his choice, and so do I, because it is one of many root issues.

All too often, the case made for ad orientem is a technical one (i.e., never abrogated). I believe we need to start talking more deeply about the profound spiritual nature of the posture, and what it fosters interiorly. Catechesis without this aspect will never be as effective. More will embrace it as they comprehend just how spiritual it is - for both priest and worshipers.

It is in interior silence - the quiet - that we discover God, and ultimately our relationship with Him. The Mass - of all things - must enable this, not hinder it. The loud, busy Masses I have experienced for the first 43 years of my life have never caused me to humble myself before the Lord the way the quiet, reserved Masses at Assumption Grotto have over the last year-and-a-half. There are many subtle cues which bring this about, which all together make for a reserved, solemn liturgy. Couple that with good sermons which talk about ALL matters of our faith - the comfortable ones, and the not so comfortable ones, and watch the lines for confession swell. It is for this reason that I believe some are against Masses which yield interior quiet. Digging deep into our souls, with humility, completely counters the more pyschological focus in Liturgies today: Preserving self-esteem - sometimes over that of the spiritual priority of salvation.

My comment left at the NLM follows below. The Photo below is from a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis, who came in for the Marian Catechists. Soon, I'll be giving details about his expected return this December.

---

I think it is a good topic to start with. The Mass has a contemplative dimension to it and it was the ad orientem posture which aided my understanding of it. While the parishioners of Assumption Grotto benefitted from catechesis by the pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone, some years ago, I did not because I was not there.

I was accustomed to bubbly priests making lots of eye contact as they processed in and out, and during the Eucharistic Prayer. Needless to say, my first experience at Grotto on Pentecost of 2005 was shocking with its total lack of such things. I went for several more weekday morning Masses, which are in Latin with Gregorian chant. As the chant filled the air at the beginning of Mass, I noticed how it quieted me interiorly the way I hadn't experienced in Mass before. In fact, the Latin Novus Ordo, with all the incensing, chant and polyphony, ran from 9:30-11:00, and I hadn't noticed it was that long.

Just before Mass, I noticed how the priest was deep in prayer at the back of the Church. For the first time, as I looked at his prayerful face, my thought was, "I should go there too". Then, the chant started, and my soul began to lift itself to God - taking me into "the quiet".

All through the first part of Mass I noticed how the priest, not facing us, but facing sideways off to the left in the sanctuary, was deep in prayer. Much of the time his eyes were closed. All the more, this subtle cue pulled me deeper into the Mass - God apparently using him as an instrument to teach me how to worship interiorly.

Then, he began the Eucharistic prayer, ad orientem. This really threw me and I recall my first thought was, "Oh, no!" Over the next few mornings, I was somewhat agitated and found myself shifting in the pew, as if to seek the face of the priest. Then, all at once it hit me: In the Mass, I should be seeking the face of God.

It was then, that I fully embraced the ad orientem posture, and the Latin Novus Ordo, as well as the TLM. My enthusiasm rose for the Mass, and I continued to go daily. Then I began participating in Catholic forums, and started my blog. In essence, the serenity, solemnity, and reserved nature of such a Mass enabled me to discover God in worship in a way I never had before. With each Mass, as mental prayer was enabled with the lack of stimulii, rapid changes to my life followed - God-pleasing changes.

I have also developed an aversion to the kind of folk masses I once participated in as a singer, and musician. Ditto with "busy" masses with lots of activity, eye contact and physical contact. I can't explain it, other than to say that I can't quiet myself in the same way that I can at a more traditionally celebrated Mass of Vatican II.

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I'll leave you with one more thought, and photo taken on the morning of Memorial Day this year...

"...As the sun set the stained-glass window before us aglow, the priest led us into the Eucharistic Prayer...."

New Domain Name Purchased: AdOrientem.com

You may notice that my posting on this blog has slowed. Here is why:




I've purchased a new domain name and I am plunging head first into full blown website development. An idea has been on my mind for many, many months and this website incorporates that idea, along with several others into what will become my life's work.

I designed the logo over the last few weeks and settled on what is above. The website will be about many things, but the name should be a clue that it will be aimed at an audience of Catholics who favor the more solemn, reverent, and traditional form of the Novus Ordo. The Latin expression, "Ad Orientem" means, "to the east" and it is often used in reference to the posture the priest uses when facing liturgical east, such as is seen in the photo to the left. I don't refer to it as "having his back to the people" because that puts a negative view on something very positive. Contrary to popular belief, this posture was not abrogated during Vatican 2.

I've never built a website before and know very little about html. I've purchased FrontPage 2003, and two books, one of which I'll recommend in a later post. This last one has been extremely helpful for someone like me with little or no experience in website building.

I won't say much about the website and will let it's full scope be comprehended when launched. This could be a few months away as I fumble through development. Of course, if I had more time I could probably launch it in a month, but I only have an hour here and there to work on it.

I made the good Lord and the Blessed Mother a few promises when asking for assistance:

• I won't let this project interfere with the secular Carmelite prayer obligations I have. I am currently in formation to be a secular Carmelite - something I've explored for the past year. Anyone joining a secular order knows that life is never the same once you enter. Prayer must have a place of priority in daily life and for me this includes Lauds, Vespers, 30 minutes of mental prayer, daily rosary, and daily holy Mass when I can, among other things. AdOrientem.com as my "apostolate" is meaningless if I as the website owner do not have my work and my life firmly rooted in prayer.

• The site will be solid and unambiguously Catholic. I pledge the utmost loyalty to Magisterium and to "Peter on earth", Pope Benedict. To ensure fidelity, all content will be subject to scrutiny by a team of solid Catholic priests, primarily through my own parish.

• Charity will rule. While I share the same pains and hurt over the words and actions of dissident and heretical Catholics, many of whom say what they do because of bad catechesis and seminary training, this site will not dishonor Our Lord by taking jabs at these people, as opposed to hitting their positions with solid Catholic truth.

MORE ON THE CHARITY ISSUE

Dissent and heresy are sinful cancers in our Church, no doubt. Cancer is not cured by poking fun at those affected, but by hitting the cancer itself with powerful treatments. Our Lord never had fun at anyone's expense, even the worst of sinners. If such a thing can be found anyplace in Sacred Scipture, please give me the passage in the comment box below. We are called to imitate Christ and AdOrientem.com will work to imitate Him in all regards.

All too often in the past year, in wanting to take the spiritual high road, I find people thinking that I am not equally disapproving of what these wayward Catholics say and do. One does not need to attack individuals in order to defend the faith. However, I believe it is also uncharitable to leave the truth buried in banality and fluff. Many people today are "led astray by all kinds of strange teachings". But, Christ didn't command anyone to laugh at the lost lamb - he commanded us to love one another, especially those who do harm against us. He exemplified this as he was beaten, crowned with thorns, and hung on the cross. "Loving" is not synonomous with "approval" of sinful words and actions, but it governs how we address these issues in the public forum and in our prayer life.

After sharing some of the "humorous" content found on blogs by well-intended Catholics with one of the Fathers of the Holy Cross at my parish, he said to me (paraphrased), "We can do more good by spending time in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for offenses committed against the Church than if we spend time laughing and poking fun at those who offend God". He also asked me to consider how many Divine Mercy Chaplets could be completed, for those who offend God, in the time it takes to make or view some of this content. This says nothing of the unseen damage done to those who are not as solid in their understanding of the faith who are then turned away by the off-color humor. Their view of more traditional-orthodox minded Catholics ends up repelling them, rather than drawing them. The last piece of advice given to me by Father in that brief conversation was that we all must consider the time we spend on the internet and weigh it against the time we spend in prayer, which goes back to his first comment.

IN CLOSING THIS LONG POST

I will provide more information in the future, but for the most part, much of the content will remain hidden until the site is actually launched. I'll put up a one pager within the next couple of weeks, God willing.

God Bless you all and I will try to put up a few posts per week in this blog, but need to focus as much of my time into AdOrientem.com as I have available, which isn't much. Prayers that the site follows the will of God are most welcome. If He wants this, it will come about smoothly and thus far, all is going well.

For news, I highly recommend using those sources in my upper sidebar. There are other great sources, but these are a few of my favorites, especially Zenit and Catholic World News.