Catholic Corner
June 13, 2021

If you’ve ever visited the little St. Agnes Chapel (the original home of the St. Agnes community) you will notice that the seating is a tiny bit . . . . . tight!! 125 people would squeeze into a space that fits into the center of the current Church! Out of the many conversations that were part of the ongoing formation of the community, comments like this one helped focus the seating arrangement for the Church: “we’ve spent years staring at the back of the heads of the people in front of us, wouldn’t it be nice to see their faces!”

This and similar remarks, as well as the experience it describes, provided a starting point for catechesis on seating arrangements. Out of this process came the antiphonal seating style we have today. This arrangement is ancient and is rooted in the early prayer form which sung the psalms antiphonally (using two alternating choirs). Originating in Hebrew tradition, this style of praying the psalms was common in early monastic communities and the seating pattern that reflects this style of singing the Liturgy of the Hours is often found in monastic houses to this day.

In our space the assembly is seating facing inwards towards the central ritual space. One end of this space is anchored by the font while the other is anchored by the Table. This spatially reflects the connection between font and Table. One cannot approach the Table unless one has entered the Church through the font (baptism leads to communion). Between these two anchors is the central ritual space which is the focal point of much of our ritual action. This is where the Rites of the RCIA are celebrated, it is where the marriage rites occur, where a body or cremains are placed at a funeral, it is where Communion, Confirmation, the Sacrament of the Sick, and much more are celebrated. In this seating arrangement the community is gathered around this core of ritual action not as passive observers but as the primary active participants of ritual action.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (one of the primary documents of Vatican II) reminds us that Christ is present in the gathering of the assembly. Indeed, it notes that there is a sacramental presence of Christ in the gathered assembly (as there is in the word proclaimed, the ordained minister and in a special way in the Body and Blood of the Eucharist). By seeing one another face to face we are reminded of this presence of Christ in our midst as we gather as community in our celebration of the liturgy. This seating arrangement recognizes the liminal nature of the ritual space. That is, this space is a meeting point of the human and divine. Here our ritual actions provide threshold experiences where we are formed into a new People and transformed in that becoming so that we go forth to transform the world.