Medieval Church History

“Dear Fathers, we should listen again to the lament of God proclaimed by the prophet Jeremiah: “they have turned their back to me” (2:27). Let us turn again towards the Lord!” (Sarah). When Robert Cardinal Sarah make this call during an address at Sacra Liturgia, a liturgy conference in London, it unleashed a storm of controversy that had been simmering beneath the surface for some number of years. Catholics the world over either rejoiced at his suggestion, or seethed that he would call for a return to what they see as a backwards time. By requesting priests throughout the world “turn towards the Lord”, he very public ally expressed support for a liturgical practice that has fallen by the wayside in the last half-century.
In a time when
Throughout all of Christian history, it has been made explicitly clear that the consecration doesn't depend on line of sight. Whether by curtains hanging from the baldachins of early basilicas, the rood screens of medieval parish churches, or the iconostases found in eastern churches, the sanctuary of the church has always been at least somewhat divided from the nave, precisely because the sanctuary is where Heaven touches Earth at the consecration. If a church with a wall separating the congregation from the priest can thrive, there's no reason to think that having their line of sight briefly interrupted will cause people to simply stop attending. In fact, when people can't see the consecration taking place, it makes the rubric instructing the priest to elevate the consecrated Host above his head, high enough for it to be visible becomes clear. Veiling the consecration behind the priest also has the effect of emphasizing the Sacraments as a mystery. No one can fully understand what happens, and to try and over analyze robs them of some of their gravity. Being able to see the consecration doesn't help to explain something that, ultimately, isn't