New Mass Translations Approved!

[DeoOptimoMaximo]

New Catholic Mass translation OK'd
Vatican wants wording in liturgy closer to Latin version

Thursday, June 15, 2006; Posted: 11:24 p.m. EDT (03:24 GMT)


Bishop Donald Trautman: "The most significant liturgical action to come before this body for many years."

Bishops debate Mass changes. (1:07)
CHANGES AT A GLANCE
A look at some of the changes to the Mass approved by U.S. Catholic bishops Thursday.

• The exchanges between priest and parishioners that now go "The Lord be with you" / "And also with you" would become "The Lord be with you" / "And with your spirit."

• The Act of Penitence, in which parishioners now confess aloud that they have sinned "through my own fault" would include the lines "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault."

• In the Nicene Creed, the opening words "We believe" would become "I believe."

• Early in the Eucharistic Prayer, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might" would become "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts."

• Before Communion, the prayer "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you" would become "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof."

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops signed off Thursday on a new English translation for the Mass that would change prayers ingrained in the memories of millions of American parishioners.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted at its biannual meeting for a new translation after a brief but vigorous debate over several small changes in wording.

The 173-29 vote on the Order of the Mass was aimed at satisfying Vatican calls for a translation closer to the Latin version.

Before Mass changes at the parish level, the Americans' version must go to offices in the Holy See for final approval. The bishops' leader on the issue said that process could take years.

"Without a doubt, this is the most significant liturgical action to come before this body for many years," said Bishop Donald Trautman, chairman of the conference's Committee on Liturgy.

"It will take some adapting, but it is not earth-shattering when you think of the changes we went through 40 years ago," he said, referring to the Second Vatican Council, where the Latin Mass was replaced by the vernacular languages in each country.

The new translation alters the wording of key texts spoken by Catholics during worship, including the Nicene Creed, the Gloria, the Penitential Rite, the Sanctus and Communion.

Some have worried about changing a fundamental rite of worship that is so much a part of Catholic identity, especially now.

Mass attendance has been declining and the priest shortage has left a growing number of churches without a resident cleric.

Bishops and parishioners have been battling over the closure of old churches and schools, and the prelates have been trying to rebuild trust in their leadership after the clergy sex abuse crisis.

Before the meeting, the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest, said the new Mass would "cause chaos and real problems and the people who are going to be at the brunt end of it are the poor priests in the parishes."

Trautman, from Erie, Pennsylvania, acknowledged the adjustment could be difficult.

"I think we all recognize that our priests are overburdened now and stretched thin," he said.

"We do believe, however, that this is important for the worship life of the Church. These texts are presenting a new richness that we haven't seen in the past so that will have to be the driving force."

Minor changes to the wording of many portions of the Mass will be obvious to Catholics.

The repeated exchanges "The Lord be with you" / "And also with you" between a priest and his congregation, for example, become "The Lord be with you" / "And with your spirit" in the updated version.

The prayer said before Communion would become "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof," instead of "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you."

Survey results released by the conference's Committee on Liturgy last November found that U.S. bishops were split over whether the changes were necessary, but in the end the proposal won more than the 168 votes it needed for approval.

Some bishops said the changes would deepen lay people's understanding of Catholicism and Scripture. They said priests could use the changes to spark a discussion of the liturgical reasoning behind them, including citing biblical stories and the Latin version.

"All these changes should require ... a certain amount of explanation and allow the people who are using them to grow in faith and not remain where they are," said Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile, Alabama.

Bishops debated for about 20 minutes on a variety of wording changes, some pitting the familiar against the new. A proposal to change the words of the Nicene Creed from "one in being" to "consubstantial," which is closer to the Latin, failed.

Roman Catholic bishops in Australia, England, Scotland and Wales have already approved translations with at most only slight differences, said Monsignor James. P. Moroney, who leads the liturgy office for the bishops' conference.

On another subject, retiring Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who has been leading the bishops' task force on Catholics in public life, announced that a new ad hoc group will serve as a liaison between the bishops' conference and Catholic politicians.

He also said the task force had met with Catholic Democrats and Republicans privately to discuss how to best merge their religious beliefs and their politics.

Catholic politicians' duty to adhere to church teachings -- particularly Catholicism's anti-abortion stance -- was a hot-button issue in the 2004 campaign when John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, was the Democratic presidential nominee.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

Coolness... I thought it would take longer for them all to approve it... now we just have to wait for the Vatican to 'OK' it...

[puellapaschalis]

I wonder where the Bishops Conferences for the other English-speaking parts of the world are as regards this.

It's quite odd; the Dutch translation is closer to the Latin than the (England and Wales) English:

Dominus vobiscum - et cum spiritu tuo
De Heer zij met u - en met uw geest
The Lord be with you - and also with you

for example, and yet the differences never really bother me, even though I attend both Dutch and English liturgies throughout the week. However there are bits where there's still some variation:

Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.
Heer, ik ben niet waardig dat Gij tot mij komt, maar spreek en ik zal gezond worden.
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you; but only say the word, and I shall be healed.

Neither the Dutch nor the English talk about either a roof or a spirit But the German does....

Herr, ich bin nicht würdig, daß du eingehst unter mein Dach, aber sprich nur ein Wort, so wird meine Seele gesund.

(there's also the whole shebangle about whether a language uses the formal or informal forms to address God - English and German use the informal (cf the Lord's Prayer in common useage), Dutch and French the formal (although the older Dutch Catholic translation of the Bible uses Gij with just about everyone). Latin of course doesn't make the distinction, so this has to be a really thorny issue when it comes to Scripture translation as it's completely cultural)

Ok, I'm finished with boring you all by my language-geekiness now.

Love and linguistic prayers,

PP

Edited June 16, 2006 by puellapaschalis

[jgirl]

I went to a few French Masses when I was up in Quebec a few weeks ago. They said, "Et avec votre esprit" ("And with your spirit") instead of "And also with you." The Gloria was slightly different, too. No talk of a roof, though.

[alicemary]

Seems like alot of fuss for a few changd words. Doesn't seem quite worth all the work they surely put into it, better spent ministering to their flocks.

[magnificat]

Excellent

[philothea]

[quote name='alicemary' post='1006764' date='Jun 16 2006, 08:08 AM']
Seems like alot of fuss for a few changd words. Doesn't seem quite worth all the work they surely put into it, better spent ministering to their flocks.
[/quote]
I'm sure linguists and theologians worked on the new translation, not parish priests and bishops.

Of course, if they hadn't approved an innacurate translation 40 years ago (discarding an accurate one) we wouldn't have had to go through this awkard transition.

I'm very happy about the changes! I hope it's implemented soon!

[ThyWillBeDone]

: YAY, it is about time :
God Bless

[jswranch]

I hope this will be good news for my rad-trad buddy.

Any chance of changing the apostles creed from "decended into hell" to something more correct (hades, patriarch limbo...etc)?

[jezic]

I am disappointed in our media talking about the current way as the "traditional" way of saying things. The same story was syndicated all over and has the same thing. It makes out to demonize the new changes and talks about how hard they will be because it is so ingrained in people's minds.

Why is changing a few words so difficult?

[Sixtina87]

i saw the article in the local paper. However it will take some time to get use to the new versions for mass.

[she_who_is_not]

I grew up going to the Rite I Episcopal Mass which responds, "And with thy spirit" Then in College I started going to Rite II which has "And also with you." Post-College I start going to the Catholic mass which is just close enough to the Episcopal service to make me thoroughly confused throughout all the responses. It took me a year to stop saying, "And with thy, I mean also with you." Oh well, I like with thy spirit better anyway.