Position of the tabernacle

17 September 1998 20:00

The following two contributions will be the final items posted to the
list on this topic, for the time being.

Mary Zore sends the following note:

In our own little church the Pastor changed the Tabernacle from a
central location to a location just to the side of the main altar. I
can testify that since that change was made the church has become
noiser, more social, less prayerful. While some churches I have been
in have a side location for the tabernacle as well, yet the

tabernacle is obviously honored with a display of candles, or over arching ornament which makes it apparent as being the Real Presence,
and not less than that. I have found from my own personal experience
that the way the Tabernacle is honored in a church can be seen to
effect the people’s awareness of Christ being present in the Church
and really present in the Blessed Sacrament.

A question/answer was posted on the EWTN Faith Question/ Answer
forum about tabernacle placements. The address is:
http://www.ewtn.com/ewtn/experts/showresult.asp?RecNum=8743&Forums=0&Experts=0&Days=365&Author=&Keyword=placement

The following is from Gerald Cenir, from the Philippines

I don’t specifically know Vatican’s viewpoint on this, but in my own
opinion,I think that the tabernacle should be placed at the center so
that it would be the center of peoples attention. It is where the
consecrated hosts are placed, so Jesus should be in the center as
well as the crucifix to remind us of Jesus and His Love for us. Many
churches are being modernized, it is just sad to know that architects
are giving less importance to the tabernacle, it also could mean that
there are more people who may forget or are forgetting about the
fact that these consecrated hosts are indeed Jesus’ body so they give
less importance to its position in the altar these days.

I read once in the True Life in God that Jesus told Vassula about the
images inside His churches should remain. Well here in our country,
some new churches don’t have any images of saints, I don’t know

why. I feel like I’m inside a protestant church whenever I am inside a „modernistic“ church structure.

I only pray that priests and bishops would not approve the
architect’s plans if the tabernacle is placed at the side and if
there are no place for the images of saints.