Q: Just got back from a diaconate ordination and something different took place that I want to ask about. During the Litany of the Saints (and a couple other times) the Archbishop and assistants turned “ad orientum”… however there is no tabernacle or cross or old altar that they were facing. Just a semi-wall with cathedra and sculptured insignia. The tabernacle, though large and visible, is a significant distance (about 3 sections of pews) to the left of the sanctuary and recessed back from the main body. Is “ad orientum” simply a posture of “facing symbolic East” no matter where you are? It looked very odd.
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A: The idea of facing east is just that—facing east. And sometimes it’s “liturgical east”—meaning toward the apse, even if the church is on a different axis.
Much of the litany is addressed to saints, but almost all of the prayers of a typical Mass are addressed to the Father. If praying while facing east, one focuses on the one to whom the prayer is addressed. One does not focus on the tabernacle, which houses the Blessed Sacrament of the Body of Christ; nor on a crucifix, which is a devotional object; nor an old altar, which was consecrated as a symbol of Christ; nor, for that matter, on a pipe organ when it is placed there.
GIRM 299 says that Mass facing the people is desirable wherever possible.