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Question Title Posted By Question Date
vestments during mass..and others.. joseph Friday, January 25, 2008

Question:

during Mass, one of our priests here in our parish wears only chasuble and stole over his clothes...is this okay?

are the vesting prayers still prayed when priests wear their holy garments?

lastly, during a tridentine mass the priest's posture should be ad orientem, so the people and priest face the altar in one direction... in the parish Church which i go to for me to attend tridentine mass, the priest faces the altar but i recently discovered that he was actually facing west by doing this, (the Tridentine Mass here is celebrated at night so i did not know that the people and priest were actually facing the west). this is maybe because of the way the church was built, but is this okay?

Question Answered by Mr. Jacob Slavek

Dear Joseph,

The priest needs to wear an alb. (girm n.336, 337)  If he doesn't have one, he should get one.  There really is no good excuse for this at least that I can think of.

The vesting prayers are not part of the modern Liturgy, so the priest is not required to say them.  Most of them don't.  However they still could say them if they wanted as a devotional prayer.  A priest celebrating the Traditional Rite should still say them.

"Ad orientem" does not always mean literally geographically facing east. There are many churches built that have the altar placed at another side, for example St. Peter's Basilica faces west.  Not to worry, it's okay.  Liturgically thinking, it's still facing the East.

Mr. Slavek
Footer Notes: (a) A Eucharistic Minister is clergy (Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion). Laity are Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and should never be called Eucharistic Ministers.

(b) There is no such Mass called the Novus Ordo. The Current Mass is the Roman Missal of 2000, or the Oridinary Form of the Mass. The Tridentine Mass is the Roman Missal of 1962, or the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. Please refrain from using the term, Novus Ordo. Thanks.

(c) The titles of Acolyte and Lector belong exclusively to the Installed Offices of Acolyte and Lector, who are men (only) appointed by the Bishop. These roles performed by others are Altar Servers and Readers, respectively.