"It is...Our will that Catholics should abstain from certain appellations which have recently been brought into use to distinguish one group of Catholics from another. They are to be avoided not only as 'profane novelties of words,' out of harmony with both truth and justice, but also because they give rise to great trouble and confusion among Catholics. Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: 'This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved' (Athanasian Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim 'Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,' only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls himself." -- Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum 24 (1914)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Brick by Brick: ad orientem worship at Assumption Grotto in Detroit: table altar removed.


Posted on 27 August 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Here is some great news.
At the wonderful parish, Assumption Grotto, in Detroit, the free-standing altar set up in the middle of the sanctuary – in front of the beautiful main altar – has now been removed.
The blog Te Deum Laudamus covers what is going on at Assumption Grotto and there are photos.
That, friends, is what the sanctuary was designed to look like.
Compared to:
Think of all the money that was spent over the last decades to ruin churches that could have been used for other parish needs, all in the name of the Second Vatican Council which never mandated these wreckovations.
As I understand it, the removal of the ironing-board altar… sorry, perhaps that is too dismissive… picnic-table altar… was the result of a patient process.  Over the years some ad orientem Masses were reintroduced, then the high altar was used, the Extraordinary Form was brought in, and then it became obvious that the table, blocking the sanctuary, had to go.  The table altar was nice, for a table altar.  But, in front of that beautiful main altar?  I call to mind an essay in Notitiae which established that the principle of the unicity of the altar in the sanctuary was so important that where there was a fine main altar, nothing should be set up in front of it and that a desire for versus populum should be sacrificed.  An easy sacrifice, frankly.
Clearing that sanctuary is a concrete gesture for the promotion of the New Evangelization.
WDTPRS kudos to Fr. Perrone!
The parish could use your support.  There is a donation button which you can use right after you use my donation button!
Posted by at

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)