Which Way To Turn

The previous post “Mass Facing The People” elicited the questions: Does the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal require Mass facing the people? Or do priests and the faithful have a right to Mass celebrated in the traditional manner?

This is the [edited for brevity] response from the article of Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ:

The new General Instruction of the Roman Missal was prepared by the Congregation for Divine Worship and submitted to the Holy Father for his approval, which he gave on Holy Thursday, April 20, 2000. The congregation addresses this question of the authority of bishops in the matter of legitimate liturgical options in an official letter (Protocol No. 564/00/L) of April 10, 2000. It is not possible that this letter could have been “superseded” by the General Instruction. It is from the same person responsible for the drafting of the General Instruction, which was surely submitted to the Holy Father some time before he reviewed it and gave his approval, and therefore prior to this official document.

The relevant parts of the document, signed by both Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Francesco Pio Tamburrino, the Secretary of the Congregation, state:

· “This Dicastery [i.e. the Congregation] wishes to state that Holy Mass may be celebrated versus populum [facing the people] or versus apsidem [facing the apse]. Both positions are in accord with liturgical law; both are to be considered correct.”

· “It should be borne in mind that there is no preference expressed in the liturgical legislation for either position. As both positions enjoy the favor of law, the legislation may not be invoked to say that one position or the other accords more closely with the mind of the Church.”

· Referring explicitly to Bishop Foley’s Norms for Televising the Mass in the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama: “The publication of such norms falls within the responsibility of the Diocesan Bishop in virtue of his role as moderator of the Sacred Liturgy in the particular Church entrusted to his pastoral care. In exercising this responsibility, even though he is unable to exclude or mandate the use of a legitimate option [italics added], the Diocesan Bishop is competent to provide further guidance to priests in their choice of the various options of the Roman Rite.”

In summary: celebrating Holy Mass in the traditional manner, ad orientem, which Cardinal Ratzinger has called “not something accidental” but “a rediscovery of something essential, in which Christian liturgy expresses its permanent orientation,” is at the very least a legitimate option “in accord with liturgical law” and “to be considered correct.” No bishop is able “to exclude or mandate the use of a legitimate option.”

The inescapable corollary is that Bishop Foley is not correct when he criticizes, in his attempted decree, those who encourage priests “on their own initiative, without the permission of their local bishops, to take liberties with the Mass by celebrating in a manner called ad orientem, that is, with their backs to the people.” In fact any priest may, “on his own initiative,” so celebrate the Mass. It is not “taking liberties,” but rather choosing a legitimate option which no bishop has authority to exclude. And they are not celebrating Mass “with their backs to the people” but rather are facing with the people the Lord who comes as the Oriens. And no “permission of their local bishops” is required.