At the Cathedral and in the parish
Westminster Cathedral has lost its 'forward' altar. At Mass, this morning, the priest digressed in his homily to explain that it had originally been placed in the middle of the sanctuary for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Britain and Ireland in 1982. After he left, it remained. But now, no longer; I noticed that it had gone on my last visit to the cathedral a week or so ago. I wondered then if it had been removed to allow for more space for the co-celebrants at our new Archbishop's installation Mass two or three weeks ago. But it looks like Archbishop Nicols has done away with it altogether. Physically, it would not have been a difficult job as the altar had always been a temporary construction. Unlike, that is, the original altar, which we were told is made of several tonnes of Cornish granite!
So, it is that altar, at the top of the sanctuary, which is now to be used for Mass. There is a problem with it, though. Not so much for the congregation but the priest. The high altar (if one may call it that), is, as I mentioned, at the top of the sanctuary. When the Cathedral was built, of course, the priest celebrating Mass did so facing east - towards Jerusalem and the rising Sun (or, if you are liberal, with his back to the people). Space was allowed for the priest to walk round the altar (e.g. while incensing it), but his celebrating Mass while facing the congregation was not really envisaged. As a result of this, it seems that the celebrating priest only has a few feet to move in.
While I am sure that one or two priests will be able to suffer the limited space, I wonder what will happen at future big Masses where there will be lots of celebrants? Perhaps the forward altar will be brought out and dusted down. Or maybe Archbishop Nicols will simply tell the celebrants to do what was previously done - turn east!
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After leaving the Cathedral, I popped into my parish church to pick up a copy of this week's newsletter. While taking a look at the Catholic papers in the porch, I noticed that one had drawn on. On taking a closer look, I found that a photograph of the Holy Father had been defaced in a nasty fashion. Informing the parish sister, I disposed of the paper in the nearest bin outside. I can't remember where I read it, but I once read a quotation from Pope Benedict where he said something along the lines of if something he had said or written had not offended anyone at least once a week, he had to search his conscience. Well, if this grafitto was anything to go by, the Pope certainly said something good this week!
