Bishop of Brixen Gives Veto for Renovation of Altar Space

Proposed Altar Space in Parish of Brixen: Altar and
Ambo Equal

(Brixen)   Bishop Ivo Muser of Bolzano-Bressanone (South Tyrol)  has given an absolute no to the reorganization plans for the presbytery of the Brixen parish church of St. Michael.

The parish church in Brixen will undergo an extensive renovation. On this occasion, the sanctuary was to be "modernized". Zealous lay with some clerical support were to effect a transformation of the presbytery of the Baroque style Gothic parish church.

Art Contest: Winner Project with a Lack of Understanding of the Liturgical

The church renovation has been in swing since May 2014.  The sanctuary is untouched. A competition was held to determine what to do in   which nine South Tyrolean artists participated.The winning project chosen was the sculptor Lois Anvidalfarei.

When the project was presented to Bishop Muser,  it  was so hair-raising that he gave his veto. Since then, there have been long faces and volunteers among the church apparachiks, who sometimes have significant problems with episcopal or papal authority. The parish council feels offended and says that the negative decision of the bishop to Easter was "not good news".

Bishop Muser is committed to conciliatory language but remains in the matter. The project has been buried by him and should remain so. The bishop was particularly offended by the arrangement or fashionable disorder in the newly planned sanctuary, which lacks liturgical understanding. In particular,  Bishop Muser considered the altar arrangement unacceptable.

Parish Church of St. Michael to Brixen

Altar and ambo equivalent

According to Anvidalfarei and the parish council, the altar should not take (Volksaltar) the central position, but be laterally offset and placed at the edge to allow an appreciation of the Ambo.  The Ambo and altar as equal members of the presbytery. It is a protestantantic reorganization, which reveals prolixity and especially a lack of awareness of the Eucharist as the central moment of the Mass and its sacrificial meaning.

The intentions of transformation  confirm a stunning lack of liturgical knowledge and  is everywhere to be found among the leading Catholic laymen. The middle and younger generation were  often never consulted.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Facebook page FF (screenshot) / Wikicommons bookseller

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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AMDG