Here is Fr. Richard McBrien, T.V. theologian extraordinaire, on the liturgical posture known as ad orientem — a combination third rail and touchstone for liturgical experts and innovators — in a recent column:
Thus, when the priest was at the altar, with his back to the congregation, while reciting prayers in Latin in a barely audible manner, the message was clear, even if not explicit. The priest is the one who makes the Mass happen (the old textbooks referred to it as "confecting the Eucharist"), while the laity are present essentially as onlookers …
And here is Pope Benedict, writing as Cardinal Ratzinger, in chapter 3 of The Spirit of the Liturgy on the very same subject:
The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is locked into itself. The common turning toward the East was not a "celebration toward the wall"; it did not mean that the priest "had his back to the people": the priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem, so in the Christian Liturgy the congregation looked together "toward the Lord".
As one of the fathers of Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy, J.A. Jungmann, put it, it was much more a question of priest and people facing in the same direction, knowing that together they were in a procession toward the Lord. They did not lock themselves into a circle, they did not gaze at one another, but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us….
You decide which explanation reflects a healthier understanding of worship, ecclesiology, Church history, and the ordained priesthood.
