Florida Catholic | New English Translation Of Mass Up In The Air

New English translation of Mass is up in the air

DENISE O’TOOLE KELLY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 06.17.08

While the bishops of the United States were discussing the English translation of the Roman Missal, a Vatican cardinal expressed the pope’s desire that all parishes include the Tridentine rite Mass in their schedule of liturgies.

According to a Catholic News Service report, “Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also told a June 14 press conference in London that the Vatican was writing to all seminaries to ask that candidates to the priesthood are trained to celebrate Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, also known as the Tridentine Mass, restricted from the 1970s until July 2007 when Pope Benedict lifted some of those limits.”

The complete article is HERE.

– Ed Foster Jr. | 06.17.08

ORLANDO | The nation’s Catholic bishops engaged in lively debate June 13 on a tedious yet consequential topic: the precise words in which English-speaking priests will pray in the future during certain parts of the Mass on Sundays and feast days.

The June 12-15 spring meeting here of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops came to an end with the 700-page proposed new translation of one section of the Roman Missal in limbo. After more than a dozen bishops spoke against the translation, results of voting were inconclusive. USCCB members not present at the meeting will be polled by mail in an attempt to resolve the issue.

In response to questions from the Florida Catholic in an interview after the vote, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of the Venice Diocese – who did not participate in the debate and chose not to divulge how he voted – explained why the subject provoked strong emotions.

“Whenever you deal with liturgy, you’ve struck very much at our identity, the vision of Christ in our lives,” he said. “It’s the sacrifice of the Mass we’re talking about. It’s our prayer life.”

The translation of the proper prayers for Sundays and feast days during the liturgical year requires the approval of two-thirds of the 250 Latin-rite members of the bishops’ conference. Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, USCCB president, did not announce the vote totals but said the document had not obtained the 166 “yes” votes needed to approve it or the 83 “no” votes that would have resulted in its rejection.

“John and Mary Catholic have the right to have prayers that are clear and understandable,” said Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., in speaking against the translation that had been in the works for more than two years. It was the second of 12 sections of the Roman Missal translation project that will come before the bishops through at least 2010. The translations also must be approved by the Vatican.

The translation came from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, but many bishops expressed frustration that recommendations they submitted to the commission to clarify the sentence structure or revise archaic language had been ignored.

Bishop Victor B. Galeone of the St. Augustine Diocese apologized to his fellow bishops “if I sound cynical,” but said he had decided against submitting amendments to the document because “I felt I’d be investing a lot of time to no avail.”

Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg thanked Bishop Galeone for “giving me the courage for this moment” and said 24 of the 26 members of his presbyteral council had urged him to reject the translation. A “no” vote is “the right thing to do,” he added.

Several bishops expressed problems with the use of words such as “gibbet,” “wrought” or “ineffable,” saying they were no longer common English expressions. One complained that an Ash Wednesday blessing included a sentence that was 12 lines long and had three clauses.

“These orations need reworking if we are going to proclaim them without leaving people scratching their heads,” Bishop Galeone said.

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the Committee on Divine Worship, said bishops’ conferences in four of the 11 English-speaking countries represented on the international commission had already approved the translation. He called the document “a fresh translation that in many ways is very excellent” and expressed confidence that “as we and our priests become more familiar with the language, it will not cause the problems we fear.”

Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland, Ore., also urged approval, calling the bishops to “a measure of humility” in accepting the work of the many people involved in the translation.

“It may be imperfect,” he said, adding that the English translation of the Roman Missal after the Second Vatican Council “also was imperfect, but it became familiar.”

Nancy Frazier O’Brien of Catholic News Service contributed to this story.

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