Fr. Joseph Levine graduated from Thomas Aquinas College and after a long journey was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Baker, Oregon. He currently serves as pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church in The Dalles on the Columbia River.
Okay, Father, your arguments are very clever, but the Church has changed. Vatican II mandated that Mass be celebrated facing the people; that is the way it is now. No one is celebrating towards the...
Once we grasp that real involvement in the Mass is deeply interior, in prayer and self-offering, we might still think there a vast separation between the priest up there at the altar and the people....
Last week, I tried to respond to concern about how the lay faithful can be involved in the sacrifice being accomplished by the priest standing at the altar. In my response I compared the sacrifice...
Last week I showed that what Jesus, at the Last Supper, commanded us to do in memory of himself was not to re-enact the Last Supper, but to commemorate and offer anew, in unbloody fashion,...
Last week I suggested the real key to the difference between Mass facing the people or Mass facing the tabernacle is the relation of the Mass to the Last Supper. Mass facing the people usually...
Over the past weeks I have been examining possible reasons why a person might no longer “feel involved” in the Mass when the priest celebrates Mass facing the tabernacle rather than facing the people. Until...
Last week I began asking the question, “Why do some people no longer feel like they are involved in the Mass when the priest turns to face the tabernacle?” I began to suggest some answers...
The chief complaint that has come to my ears regarding the celebration of Mass facing the tabernacle is, “I no longer feel involved.” Fair enough, but let us use this as an opportunity for deeper...
Last Sunday I finally began celebrating Sunday Mass facing the people again. Prior to that we had a good discussion of the matter in the parish council. There I learned that some people had expected...
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about sacred images; today I want to write about something that serves as a sort of complement to sacred images, veils. Sacred images remind us that God has...