Rumor has it that liturgical changes are coming, including more Latin, reining in theologically out-there hymns, and maybe the priest will be encouraged to face the same direction as the people again. Ad orientam: to the east. Or, as opponents like to put it, "with his back to the people."
Rich Leonardi quotes one of those opponents:
Thus, when the priest was at the altar, with his back to the congregation, while reciting prayers in Latin in a barely audible manner, the message was clear, even if not explicit. The priest is the one who makes the Mass happen (the old textbooks referred to it as "confecting the Eucharist"), while the laity are present essentially as onlookers ...
That's how the argument goes. Ad orientam = "back turned to the people" = people reduced to onlooker status = high'n'mighty priest. Priest turned toward the people, then, supposedly sent the message that the priest was just this guy, you know?, one of us, and raised the people to the status of participants, not merely an audience.
I submit for your consideration: two images.
In each, one man is going step by step through a highly ritualized routine, complete with special costume and equipment. He is in front of a number of other people standing rank on rank in rows, who are looking to the man in front for cues even as they go through motions that they themselves know well. In the first picture, the man in front faces the people I just spoke of. In the second, his back is to them.
Number 1: The "Rock Star and Audience" model. (That's The King.)
Number 2: The "Drum Major And The Rest Of The Marching Band" model. (TBDBITL, of course. Yeah, I know, these guys have an audience too. But right now I'm thinking about the folks in the Sam Browne belts.)

A few observations.
1) The drum major may have a fancy title and a fancier hat, but he is most emphatically one of the band members.
2) Isn't it obvious that the drum major and the rest of the band have a shared purpose, and that the rock star and the audience do not?
3) Whose position --- the drum major's relative to the rest of the band, or the rock star's relative to the people in the pews, leads to the appearance that it's All About The Guy Up Front?
4) Is the rock star singing along to the music generated by the audience? Is the drum major dancing to the music generated by the marching band? Hm? So who're the "onlookers" here, and who are the "active participants?"
My point is just that it's inherently absurd to say that when the priest's back is to the people, the message is that the people are a mere audience, but when the priest faces the people, the message is that the people are active participants. Does anyone seriously think that because the drum major has his back to the trombone players and the drummers, "the message is clear" that the music is coming from him?
The posture of the Performer is to face his audience.
The posture of the Leader Among Us is to face the direction we're trying to go.
Now it may well be that, back in the day, the priest mumbled, barely audibly; and now, everybody can hear fine and dandy. Although being able to read lips probably helped some, I suspect this has not so much to do with our newly enlightened liturgical style and more to do with the fact that these days, churches (at least the big cavernous ones) have amplification systems.
And don't forget another thing we have in common with the marching band... we rehearse. We do this every week, you know? So we know what's coming. I could probably come up with more analogies (Music appropriate to the venue! The Playing Field!) but I think I'd be stretching harder than the guy with the baton.
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