Church: A Place Where Mystery Happens - #15

This week I want to profile a second camp in Catholic circles. This group wants to place the tabernacle in a separate chapel where people can come for Eucharistic adoration, contemplative prayer in the presence of the Lord, and moments of small-group and shared prayer. The separate chapel should be easily accessible for Eucharistic ministers who visit the sick and bring communion to people in their homes, in the hospitals, and in other medical facilities. Many who opt for a separate space for the reserved sacrament want the Eucharistic chapel to be designed beautifully. The wise use of lighting, ceramic tiles, stained glass, icons, the cross or crucifix, and other kinds of art can contribute to a place that invites prayer and brings peace. The Eucharistic chapel is a place of many moods or spiritual climates. Some visit because it is a place of silence and quiet. Its ambiance can foster centering prayer and facilitate intercessory prayer. It can also be a place for quiet praise and thanksgiving where litanies, Taize-community chants, and other kinds of music can be used to deepen the inner life, the solidarity of a small faith community, or a group that combines Scripture study with a period of heart-centering prayer. Some chapels use clear glass on the outer wall so that the chapel connects with a meditation garden or a beautifully landscaped space. This links the redemptive motif of the Eucharist with thanksgiving for the gift of creation. A well-designed Eucharistic chapel can bring a profound spiritual richness to a parish.

My portrayal of this group - those favoring a distinct space for the reserved Blessed Sacrament - is quite halcyon, isn't it? Well, fasten your seat belts. There is a minority that really identifies Eucharistic adoration with the past. Any attempt to put in Eucharistic adoration or perpetual adoration is viewed as regression, a relic of a past Catholicism that is disdained because it is remembered as oppressive. This group wants to have nothing to do with a strict piety and protocol that makes the Eucharist a thing, an object to be adored rather than a communal action to be celebrated ritually. Nor do they want to get caught up into a spirituality of indulgences and merit. What's the bottom line here? I think it is a fear that the church will try to roll back its history, recant it its commitment to liturgical renewal, and leave the laity stuck with a clerically dominated prayer life (both in the liturgy and in popular piety). The placement of the tabernacle symbolizes a particular style of Catholicism, a spiritual way that no longer attracts modern hearts. Many involved in the renewal of the church and its liturgy have struggled to cast off the old and the past. Any suggestion that we might restore the past is met with disdain for a piety and a protocol that they have tried to change for the better.

Extremists on either side of the divide can be quite uncivil in their assumptions, attitudes, and actions toward their so-called enemy on the other side. They dig in their heels on one issue: where the tabernacle should be placed, and ignore the ongoing spiritual and liturgical issues that each parish will need to address for its future vitality and health. Stay tuned!