After Traditionis Custodes: Archbishop Cordileone and Liturgical Renewal
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On Friday, Nov. 14, after months of speculation, Catholics finally learned that Pope Leo XIV does not intend to overturn Traditionis Custodes. Rome signaled instead that it will consider more generous, renewable two-year dispensations at the request of bishops. With that announcement, the center of the liturgical conversation has subtly shifted. Rather than...
The question of liturgical orientation, too, Cordileone treated with steady realism. He is aware that ad orientem and versus populum have become hallmarks of liturgical “camps.” However, he stressed that the post-conciliar rubrics permit both.
One way to determine which to use might begin with the building itself. In some churches, the architecture—pronounced apse, central tabernacle, elevated altar—naturally supports priest and people facing the same direction, expressing their shared orientation toward the apse, signifying liturgical east. In other settings, an open or in-the-round design and a freestanding altar highlight the gathered assembly around the table of the Lord. Both dimensions, meal and sacrifice, belong to the Eucharistic celebration.
Rather than treating orientation as an absolute, Cordileone acknowledged the legitimacy of asking which posture more clearly reveals the paschal mystery.
Another liturgical tug-of-war over orientation is not something the Church needs, especially at a moment when the Syro-Malabar Church is only beginning to emerge from its own bitter and at times violent conflict over liturgical orientation.
The priest, he insisted, is not a performer. His words, gestures, and posture should be transparent to the mystery he serves. This means resisting the impulse to ad-lib and remaining faithful to the texts. It also means allowing silence to stand on its own without nervous commentary.
Active participation, according to the experts, is not limited to outward speech or movement, but nor does it really allow for withdrawing into private devotions like the rosary during Mass
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