Why Altar Rails Are Returning

 From The Imaginative Conservative:

In churches across the country, pastors are installing altar rails. Some parishes are bringing the rails back to old churches after they were torn out decades ago. Other parishes are adding them to new churches that never had them. The altar rail is coming back by popular demand. It is changing the way people see the Holy Eucharist. Best of all, the move is highly popular and awaking enthusiasm among the faithful.

After the Second Vatican Council, many churches removed their altar rails, claiming it divided “the people of God” from the priest in the sanctuary. The idea was to turn the Mass into “a shared, communal worship experience.” However, it also removed the sense of the sacred that once dominated the church, and Eucharistic devotion waned. (Read more.)