Tabernacle placement must be 'central and visible,' Bishop D’Arcy says

An excellent clarification by Bishop D'Arcy. I hope it spreads to other Diocese. I have often wondered exactly what goes through the mind of a priest when he relegates the tabernacle, which contains the Body of Christ, to a less significant place. In the worst cases, sometimes you can't even find the tabernacle in a church.

Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend John M. D’Arcy has issued new norms on the placement of the tabernacle in churches, aiming to end controversy on the topic.

The bishop described the new norms and the reasons for them in a July 19 letter posted on the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend website and addressed to priests, deacons, religious, and all the faithful.

“The presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is at the center of our faith and of the devotional life of our Catholic people,” his letter began.

Saying tabernacle placement has become “a source of controversy,” he said the Eucharist should always be “a means of unity and communion, and never of division.”

“The place of the tabernacle in our church should reflect our faith in the real presence of Christ, and should always be guided by church documents,” Bishop D’Arcy continued.

In his experience, people have always desired the tabernacle to be “central and visible” and find it “confusing” when it is not.

The norms state that the tabernacle should be “prominently located in the sanctuary


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