Klaus Gamber on the Orientation of the Roman Liturgy

Fr. Greg Markey, Pastor of St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT wrote the following column for the parish bulletin and the parish website http://www.stmarynorwalk.net/

Msgr. Klaus Gamber (1919–1987) was a German liturgist who enthusiastically supported the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, but then later became one of the chief critics of how it was implemented. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger called Gamber, “the one scholar who, among the army of pseudo-liturgists, truly represents the liturgical thinking at the center of the Church.”

Many priests and faithful are under the impression that Vatican II called for an end to offering Holy Mass towards the tabernacle, ad orientem, and for the priest to now face the people, versum populum. However, no such statement can be found in the Council documents. Gamber saw this new altar arrangement as an aberration in the organic development of the liturgy, and one of his major contributions before his death was to examine whether there was any historical foundation for this new development.

In his book, The Reform of the Roman Liturgy (Cardinal Ratzinger wrote the introduction to the book), Gamber explains that scholars have shown that, “…the custom of praying in the direction of sunrise is an ancient one, practiced by Jews and pagans alike. The custom was adopted early on by the Christians. For example, to face East in prayer was a common practice for Tertullian, as early as 197. In his Apologeticum he speaks about Christians ‘praying in the direction of the rising sun’. The sun served as a symbol for the Lord having ascended to heaven and of His return from there” (see Acts 1:11).

Furthermore Gamber states: “We can say and convincingly demonstrate that neither in the Eastern nor the Western Church was there ever a celebration versum populum – rather, there was only the practice of turning towards the East while praying. Martin Luther was the first person to demand that the priest at the altar face the people.”

Some today negatively explain the ad orientem position as the “the priest with his back to the people”. However, the real symbolism here is the priest leading the people in the worship of God, offering to the Father the Perfect Sacrifice, the immolated Lamb, on behalf of the people.

What’s more, rather than being a circle closed in on itself, the ad orientem position represents an opening with an active and forward movement. As Gamber wrote, “Facing the East was to indicate the direction and destination of this procession: the lost paradise to be found in the East (Genesis 2:8). The celebrant and his assistants formed the vanguard of the procession to the East…When we expect the arrival of an important person, the group of waiting people will form into the shape of a semi-circle to receive the expected person into their midst.” Is this not what we are doing at Holy Mass? The priest leading us towards heaven as we await the arrival of the Lamb?

While offering the Mass versum populum is almost the universal practice in the Ordinary Form, both positions, ad orientem and versum populum, are permitted by the law of the Church. The Congregation for Divine Worship stated on April 10, 2000: “Both positions are in accord with liturgical law; both are to be considered correct…a priest’s choice of position to offer Holy Mass, whether facing the apse or facing the people may never be used to call into question his adherence to Catholic Doctrine.” Furthermore, later that year, on September 25, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship rejected the position that there is a general obligation in the Ordinary Form of the Mass for the priest to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass versum populum.

Inspired by Gamber’s research, Cardinal Ratzinger has promoted the value of once again offering Mass ad orientem. In 2000 Cardinal Ratzinger wrote: “A common turning to the east during the Eucharist Prayer remains essential. This is not a case of something accidental, but of what is essential. Looking at the priest has no importance. What matters is looking together at the Lord. It is not now a question of dialogue but of common worship, of setting off toward the One who is to come. What corresponds with the reality of what is happening is not the closed circle, but the common movement forward, expressed in a common direction for prayer.”

Now as the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has begun to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Ordinary Form ad orientem at times. Evidently he sees our current atmosphere as the proper time to reorient ourselves with this common practice of our 2000 year history: “Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come.”

Some claim that Msgr. Klaus Gamber writings are the inspiration to Pope Benedict XVI’s liturgical reform. Surely the Holy Father was moved when after Msgr. Gamber died in 1987, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, “The death of this eminent man and priest should spur us on; his work should give us a new impetus.”

Inspired by these writings and the example of the Holy Father, it is my hope to introduce the ad orientem altar position in the Ordinary Form in certain Masses. Please pray for the Holy Father, that he would lead us in an authentic liturgical renewal, as he often writes, in “continuity” with the Traditions that we have receive from the saints who have gone before us.