Summer Parish Potlucks and The State of the Parish: Part V

VIII. A New Tabernacle and Its Placement in the Church

In addition to donations for kneelers and their installation in mid-October, we also received a very generous donation the first month I arrived here, June 2006. This donation was for the purchase of a new tabernacle for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. The thought was: “If we are not moving forward with the Faith on the Hill renovations, let us at least get a new tabernacle.” I received the donation and made it clear that I wasn’t sure when this would be possible. I had just arrived and didn’t want to make too many large changes within my first year, although some were necessary. At the close of my first year as pastor, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, I preached about this. At the time, I said that this is not something I wanted to impose but something I hoped the parish would desire and ask for. I would never want the Blessed Sacrament’s presence in our midst to become a dividing issue. I asked for feedback and was overwhelmed with the positive response. Still, I wanted to go slow. I ordered original, custom designs and presented them a year later at the recent potlucks over the summer. Once again, the response was very positive indeed and we have decided to move forward with the purchase of a new tabernacle and a new placement in the sanctuary of the Church. It will be installed, hopefully, on the First Sunday of Advent. The reasons for this are many.

The General Instruction on the Roman Missal (the official directory on all things liturgical for the Roman Rite) states that the tabernacle is to be made of solid materials with a lock, easily identifiable and beautiful to symbolize the Divine Presence within. It also says that its placement should be prominent, central, easily identifiable, suitable decorated and in a place suitable for prayer. It does allow its placement outside of the main sanctuary but only for churches that are tourist destinations with heavy amounts of non-Catholic traffic unaware of the sacredness of the Eucharist.

At the time of the renovation of the church after the fire, much thought went into the placement of the tabernacle. First, there was a desire to have the tabernacle accessible all day for prayer but a hesitation of having the main area of the church unlocked for that time given the recent arson. It seems, however, that starting a fire or vandalism is just as easy in the vestibule as it would be in the main body of the Church. In the new arrangement, the main body of the church will remain open for prayer all day. Some other areas of the church not currently locked will be in the future.

More than that, there were liturgical theories that advocated for a “special space” only for the tabernacle, hoping to avoid the above mentioned “tourist traffic” and a desire for a heightened sense of the sacredness of the Lord’s presence. The experience throughout the universal church, especially in the United States, has been very different than expected. The placement of the tabernacle outside of the sanctuary has not led to a heightened awareness of the sacredness of the Eucharist but a de-emphasis on the Real Presence of Jesus, devotion to the Eucharist and a loss of reverence within our church before and after Mass. It was all unintentional but there are many, many Catholics that don’t know what the Eucharist is, what the tabernacle is and some in our church who don’t know where our tabernacle is located. This is especially alarming given the centrality of the Eucharist to our faith as Catholics and the importance of the Eucharist in the architecture of the Church. Church architecture, as you know, is meant to be a Word about God and our faith, not simply useful as a place for gathering. It should be a place different from the normal world we inhabit, a sacred space that takes us out of the ordinary into the supernatural and heavenly. The physical aspects matter almost as much as the spiritual. The current arrangement does not speak adequately or clearly about the centrality of the Eucharist in our life and worship as Catholics and leaves the main body of our church empty of Him who makes it holy and set apart.

Lastly, after an almost exclusive emphasis on the so-called “verticality” or focus on God in worship prior to the Second Vatican Council, there was a huge swing to emphasize the “horizontal” aspect of worship, that is, our coming together as the Body of Christ and our union with each other in Him. Sometimes, however, this happened just as exclusively as before, but on the other end of the spectrum. Right now, the Church throughout the world is finding its proper balance between focus on God and community, between the vertical and horizontal, between a welcoming atmosphere and a sense of prayer, reverence and sacredness inside the sanctuary. This is the type of balance we are attempting, both are necessary and both are possible.

The purpose of the Mass is to worship God first and foremost and as a result of that, we are sanctified, made holy, and unified as the Body of Christ in a community. The second flows from and is dependent upon the first aspect. It is vitally important for our continued spiritual renewal that the Eucharist occupy the central place in our hearts, our lives, our plans, our community and therefore, in our church.

The new placement of the tabernacle will probably mean many things for our lives together. In some ways, we will need to learn and adjust together as we go, reminding ourselves of His presence in the church, when to genuflect and what not, that I will write about in future columns.

IX. Conclusion

The “state of our parish” is strong! Our mission at the University of Colorado is being renewed, the numbers of families and students are growing again, we are solvent financially (at least this past year!), our future looks bright as we continue our efforts at developing relationships with alumni, parents and friends of our ministry and we are celebrating our 100th anniversary of campus ministry, our 40th as a parish and our 20th since our rebuilding. As we make changes to enhance our spiritual lives together with new kneelers and a re-emphasis on the importance of the Eucharist, my hope and prayer is that we will be moved to grow in our faith, enthusiasm for our mission, growth in love for Jesus and others, service to others and begin to think strategically about our future and those who will follow us. We have difficulties and challenges, but God is faithful and here with us. He can do more than we can ask or imagine…if we let Him.