I watched an older video from The Catholic Talk show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sn0vcFPjL4). In the video, they talk about “15 things that need to stop happening during mass”. I will only talk about one of those things in this post, and that is the location of the Tabernacle and its importance.

“The tabernacle is a liturgical furnishing used to house the Eucharist outside of Mass.” (https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-is-a-tabernacle)

They discuss that you are supposed to genuflect toward the Tabernacle instead of the altar and only bow towards the altar because the Tabernacle might not always be behind it. The presence of God dwells within the Eucharist, and your respect/adoration towards the Lord should be where he is present. Since moving to a new area, I’ve never experienced where the Tabernacle was anywhere other than behind the altar. My current parish has it in a chapel towards the entrance in a windowed room viewed from anywhere in the church. At first, I didn’t know of its location until I realized that other parishioners were genuflecting off to the side of the church. I found this weird and then realized it was due to the location of the Tabernacle. To avoid turning away from the Tabernacle during genuflection. I’ve decided to sit facing it. I’ve never been told to genuflect before or given the reason to, and more of something I followed everyone else do. They would also talk about churches in their dioceses having their Tabernacle in even worse locations. The location and presence of God should be known to those who arrive to worship the Lord. I follow that the genuflect should be towards His presence during his location at the time, during mass, before, and after. I understand the reason for wanting to place the Eucharist in a more secluded location to provide a more personal and enclosed space that can provide a better adoration space. Still, it shouldn’t also be away from where the masses gather. I would understand what my hometown church does and provides a second location for adoration alone, but the Tabernacle for the church still sits behind the altar.

Example Tabernacle: !Image Description