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13% of a U.S. Diocese Try "Ad Orientem" Eucharists

Throughout 2025, Bishop Daniel Felton of Duluth, Minnesota, has "permitted" nine parishes in the diocese to celebrate the Eucharist ad orientem, with the priest and congregation facing the same direction.

The "permissions" were granted following requests from parish priests and on a trial basis.

Bishop Felton began with an instruction issued in 2024. He wrote that celebrating the Eucharist facing the pews has been widely adopted in the Church since the Second Vatican Council. He added that some Catholics believe this posture has resulted in a loss of 'a sense of transcendence'. Bishop Felton required that both liturgical postures be treated with mutual respect. Priests had to explain their motivations for celebrating ad orientem to him personally and consult their parishioners beforehand.

The frequency of the posture varied by parish. Some communities celebrated ad orientem every Sunday, while others did so once a month.

The Diocese of Duluth comprises 69 parishes. The nine parishes that celebrated Mass ad orientem in 2025 represent approximately 13% of the diocese. The average age of priests in the Diocese of Duluth is 47, which he noted is well below the national average.

On 7 January, the National Catholic Register reported on the move, adding that there has been no decision yet on how to proceed in 2026.

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Maxwell Edward Garrison

In the Diocese of Austin, I was instrumental in helping them develop a Latin ad orientem Novus Ordo (I knew that was the beginning of the end). I did it because they begged me, being the resident liturgical expert and having the ability to read and competently speak Latin. I made it a point to teach myself those rubrics (not really rubrics) so that I could have a knowledge of the false dichotomy.
The Latin Novus Ordo ad orientem is not the TLM. No way, no how. Lipstick on a pig (I speak of the liturgy, not the miracle of transubstantiation). That’s what this city has now. Good for them. They forced me out of the Church by making me overly bitter and frustrated.
It is still the same humanist liturgy it always is. Some slap on more makeup and have two deacons (one for the Word, one for the Eucharist) to simulate having an actual subdeacon. Utterly laughable and pathetic, nay synthetic.

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Tisbe Galaad

Psalm 69:9
“For the zeal of your House consumes me.”

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mccallansteve

Laughable and so what! Go back to the Catholic Mass of the ages or go be protestant.

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