Wow! Very tough problem as you describe it. Is it not possible for the choir to stand near the console? Is there room for movable chairs near the console? Are you conducting from the console?

Given the choir sitting among the congregation: I would have them sit and stand along with the rest of the congregation. Standing for choral pieces makes sense-but having them face the sanctuary is less than ideal. I would do anything possible to get them out of the pews-either for the entire Mass or just for the choral music.

I am not always against mics-but I am against them 99% of the time because they are not well done. I would be against mics in your case both because of the difficulty of micing them well, and because of the disruption caused by their presence in the pews.

HOWEVER, to now argue the opposite of what I said above: have the choir stand whenever they sing and mic them all over the place. When the congregation and powers-that-be see the incongruity of the situation, they may be motivated to help you find a permanent, satisfactory solution to this very tough problem.

Good luck, I hope you find your way to a good music area.

I once sang with a choir that had a similar (though not identical) issue. There was no choir loft and the organ was at a back corner of the chapel. The choir ended up occupying the two or three pews in front of the organ. When we sang, we had to turn away from the sanctuary and face the organ where the choir director stood. Additionally, the church was small and the acoustic not great. There was standing room only almost every Sunday, and the simple number of people in the chapel deadened the sound. In fact, most of the men in the choir stood/knelt along the back wall or in the side aisle during the entire Mass.

I'd say our situation was better than what you are describing in that our position at the back made us less of a distraction when we stood to sing. Otherwise, we had some of the same challenges.

We stood whenever we had to sing, except during benediction, when we knelt and sang at the same time. Also, our use of the organ was usually limited to the entrance and recessional hymn. Most of what we sang was unaccompanied.

If your use of the organ is similarly limited, it might be possible to have the choir at the back of the church most of the time (which should also help with the microphone question). Otherwise, I would just do my best to make the choir the least distracting as possible and impress on everyone in the choir the need for all the more reverence. After giving glory to God, the choir's main job is to help the congregation pray.

I'd also recommend against microphones if possible. In my opinion, if the acoustics are good, let the church be your instrument.

We have a choir loft but aren't allowed to sing from it. It's 'not in the spirit of Vatican II'. Anyone in a similar situation?

You don't happen to work for a small, rural parish in central Indiana that just recently renovated their worship space, do you? That floor plan looks EXACTLY like our old church space, which is now the chapel. We did what you are doing in terms of placement (choir in the pews with people, seated up front) for quite some time. There are two schools of thought when it comes to choir posture during Mass: 1. They should stand whenever they sing. This is supported by the academics and physiology behind how the singing voice works, and can be defended readily. 2. They should sing from the postures required by the Mass. This is supported by the rubrics for congregational posture during the Mass (kneel when you're supposed to, etc), and makes sense for a liturgical choir to sing from the correct posture. It can also be done so that the rules regarding correct singing posture are still obeyed and the sound (more importantly the choir's voices) doesn't suffer. In keeping with your floor plan and placement of the choir in the pews with the people, your idea of having them sing from whatever posture the liturgy requires at the time is the best practice, I think. It wouldn't be out of keeping to have them stand when performing a choral work as you have described and I think your idea would be very effective. Ditch the mics if you can.

The choir has to be placed high enough in the the building so that anyone can turn and look at them so they are sending out a direct sound at each person, which is then warmed up by the building reflected sound.

Otherwise you are doomed to microphones.

You'd be better off with the organ where the choir is and the choir where the organ is...looking at the flat floor plan. This plan seems really, really unworkable for a program to succeed.

I saw a Presbyterian church with a similar layout. However, they had room in the back to rearrange some pews, put in a raised platform, and put choir and organ in the back. Without actual pictures, it is hard to tell what would work from this diagram.

How, precisely, do you direct a choir which must look away from you in order to be "part of the congregation"?

Thanks, all, for your feedback. I'm going to go with my gut instinct. The placement of the choir is only temporary. We'll just have to work with what we have for the time being. Thanks again!