On eastward-facing altars

...love of Gregorian chant, time-honored vestment styles, the Old Mass, traditional architecture, old-time devotions and ceremonies, eastward worship, and Latin is in the historical mainstream of Christianity. It is not some weird, far-right ghetto province.

- Fr Jim Tucker

The conservative Novus Ordo constituency at Amy Welborn’s blog has noticed that this tradition as practised by some Anglicans and Lutherans including today outcatholics much of mainstream RC and also sees the threat in some churches of encroachment from un-liturgical evangelical worship.

Common sense:

Lutheran rubrics were simple--for the parts of the liturgy that are "sacrificial," in which you are offering prayer to God, you face the altar; for those parts that are "proclamation," directed to the people, you face them.

I know it’s not Fortescue but I’ve seen Mass done this way and it works fine.

I also like the Byzantine Rite way in which the vested reader chants the epistle (Apostol) in the main part of the church but facing the altar, the deacon chants the gospel front and centre likewise ‘facing east’ but if a priest chants the gospel he’s facing the people.