But even the example of St Thomas More Toronto shows that an ad orientem altar and communion rail in a traditional space won't provide a good worship experience comparable to St Thomas Episcopal Hollywood without major expense in updating the sound system and building acoustics.
On the other hand, the acoustics of versus populum celebraton at St Timothy Catonsville are far better.
Here is the Christmas 2018 mass at Our Lady of Grace Covina, CA. I counted about 40 coming forward for the sacrament. The portable communion rails seat only two or three at a side, which extends the process tediously.
This group meets in a former diocesan parish building that had been sold and repurposed as an event facility. The altar has been reworked for use by the ordinariate group there, which is apparently making some effort to purchase the building.
However, it does not appear that any work has been done to change the existing sound system or acoustics to accommodate ad orientem celebration at the new altar. In other words, the job is only partly done here.
The celebrant, when not singing the liturgy at the top of his lungs, is speaking directly into the flower arrangement on the altar and is largely inaudible.
Here is the mass for the most recent second Sunday in Advent at St Timothy Catonsville, MD.
This is in a chapel at a local Novus Ordo Catholic parish, which is set up for versus populum celebration. There is no communion rail, and the sacrament is received standing, either in the hand or on the tongue. I counted about 25 coming forward for the sacrament, in addition to about half a dozen in the altar party. Two priests celebrated this mass. What kind of shortages are in the archdiocese?
One thing I noticed is that the acoustics were far better in this versus populum celebration.
Here is the sung mass for the most recent fourth Sunday in Advent at St Thomas More, Toronto, which meets in an archdiocesan facility that has a communion rail and is set up for ad orientem celebration.
The first thing to note is that the community has an outstanding cantor, and it's my understanding that a musical family has been involved with the group. However, the acoustics of the space are favorable only to the cantor, who is apparently in the choir loft. As far as the celebrant at the altar is concerned, we're seeing again the problems with ad orientem celebration if the sound system and building acoustics haven't been set up to accommodate it.
The celebrant's voice is faint to start with, and facing the altar, he's often not understandable. The echoes in the nave reinforce this effect, and the echoes probably are increased by the lack of bodies to absorb the sound. In fact, the echo makes children crying in the nave far more audible than the celebrant.
While the camera angle made if difficult to see exactly how many were at the communion rail, it appears that about 12-15, including small children, came forward for the sacrament.
When Fr Davies came to St Thomas Episcopal Hollywood, the altar had been set up for versus populum celebration. He moved the altar back against the wall, but in the following year, he completely redid the sound system and made changes to the acoustics in the nave, with the result you can hear in yesterday's post. There is no echo, although it helps that the nave is always well filled for the main Sunday mass.
I suppose some may think an echo isn't a bug, it's a feature. I may well be spoiled, coming from a 1979 BCP, versus populum background in expecting to be able to follow along in the celebration and hear clearly everything that's said -- maybe, in fact, that's my Protestant, liturgy-in-the-vernacular inheritance. If the sacrament is the same if all you hear is mumbling in Latin that you can't understand anyhow, well, fine.
But in that case, why bother with the Divine Worship missal? Yet again, what problem is Anglicanorum coetibus trying to solve? Why do so few people come to hear that marvelous cantor? Is there some way the Church can make better use of her talents?
