People of God on the move. The question of the direction of prayer in the celebration of the Eucharist Volk Gottes unterwegs. Zur Frage der Gebetsrichtung in der Eucharistiefeier

This contribution considers the question of the (Eucharistic) "celebratio versus populum" and the "celebratio versus Deum" from the perspective of the history of liturgy, the history of the liturgical movement, and the liturgical theology and ecclesiology of "mainstream" Old Catholicism. After providing an overview of the relevant characteristics of these fields and their concerns, the paper concludes that a "celebratio versus Deum" is the most appropriate in an Old Catholic liturgical and ecclesiological context, provided, that is, that such a liturgy is celebrated in a way that allows the communication between God, the people of God and the "presider" to become accessible to the entire congregation. Practical proposals for this are made towards the end of the paper.