Apart from the fact that this church in Fell's Point of Baltimore is now closed and stripped of all the artwork and altars, to include the stained glass, what is it about this post-Vatican II image of St. Michael's Church that has contributed to the loss of belief in the Real Presence of Christ at Mass and Holy Communion?
Let me tell you what it is: It is that free standing altar placed below the actual high altar with the three chairs in front of it to hide what is already hidden in terms of where one's eye is naturally drawn in this Church and by design: the HIGH ALTAR!
What did it do the average parishioner after Vatican II that the High Altar was abandoned, where their eye was naturally drawn, to have this "fake" altar placed in front of it but much lower and then placing the priest chair in front of it so that the priest could face the people throughout the Mass? Symbolically the Mass and Holy Communion were LOWERED! There was no longer a High Christology or High understanding of the Mass and Holy Communion!
Talk about contrived! This kind of thing eroded the orthodox Faith of Catholics and began as soon as the "altar of sacrifice" was made to look like what we see in this photo!
What say you?
Let me tell you what it is: It is that free standing altar placed below the actual high altar with the three chairs in front of it to hide what is already hidden in terms of where one's eye is naturally drawn in this Church and by design: the HIGH ALTAR!
What did it do the average parishioner after Vatican II that the High Altar was abandoned, where their eye was naturally drawn, to have this "fake" altar placed in front of it but much lower and then placing the priest chair in front of it so that the priest could face the people throughout the Mass? Symbolically the Mass and Holy Communion were LOWERED! There was no longer a High Christology or High understanding of the Mass and Holy Communion!
Talk about contrived! This kind of thing eroded the orthodox Faith of Catholics and began as soon as the "altar of sacrifice" was made to look like what we see in this photo!
What say you?
6 comments:
What a shame for a church that is so beautiful otherwise. Free-standing altars like that stick out like a sore thumb. It looks amateurish compared to the rest of the sanctuary.
Whoever placed those chairs in front of the altar obviously WANT clericalism.
Whoever placed those chairs in from of the altar WANTS clericalism of the kind that makes priests the innovating masters of the Faith.
I say yep. Not to mention all those bland, lifeless “theater in the round” churches built in the 70s-80s (like one you may know on HHI?). How is it those churches survive?
Oh, but was changing the altar around not all about active participation of the faithful before all else? How can the faithful participate in what is their "right" to do as priests themselves if they cannot see what is happening on the altar? Did not the Holy Spirit call the world's greatest experts in liturgy and theology to contrive a perfect liturgy founded on the active participation by a united assembly that would replace that perversion since time immemorial in which each individual participated in his own unique way at Mass in order to be united with God? After all, for an assembly to be fully and consciously united with the presider at the altar, does it not have to see what the presider is doing there on its behalf in the first place?
Heck, even in the liberal Episcopal Church, seldom are chairs placed in front of the altar. I am reminded of what I see at Atlanta's Episcopal Cathedral, where the marble altar is in the middle (with an semi-circular altar rail) and the clergy sit (stand) on the sides to lead the liturgy of the word. Then at the offertory they proceed to the altar. Kind of like monastic layout at the Holy Spirit Monastery in metro Atlanta (Conyers/Rockdale County).
Not a fan of the little Altar in front of the main Altar. Fr. Jerabek had a post a while back about how all of the Altars in a church should be utilized. It makes sense that the little Altar should be moved and used perhaps for daily Mass, an Altar to Mary used on her feasts, and the main Altar on Sunday. I think the reason 90% of Catholics don’t believe in the real presence is because 90% of Catholics stopped going to Mass and practicing their religion decades ago. They lost all faith. Vatican 2 might have had something to do with it, but there were a lot of other groups going after the Church at the same time.
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