Catholics worldwide see new Roman Missal translations at Masses this weekend
Published: Friday, November 25, 2011, 7:40 PM
Archbishop Gregory Aymond celebrates Mass on Oct. 23 at the dedication of a new arts and athletics complex at The Academy of the Sacred Heart. October 23 2011 The translation, formally the Third Edition of the Roman Missal, returns more explicitly to Scripture and continues to prefer references to “man” and “men” as stand-ins for humanity. The new version also contains a few technical theological terms, including “consubstantial” and “oblation,” that may leave the faithful baffled.
It will be less colloquial, and perhaps more high-toned and less user-friendly for everyday Catholics. That threatens “a pastoral disaster” in the view of some critics, like Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, who was among a minority of American bishops publicly dismayed by the final product.But American bishops overwhelmingly approved the changes, which have been more than a decade in the making.
Bishops and pastors briefing their parishioners over recent months have repeatedly emphasized that nothing of the underlying theology of the Eucharist has changed, only the translations of prayers .
The changes will not be nearly so jarring as switching to English in the first place, part of the revolution worked by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
But they certainly will be noticeable to that 22 percent of Catholics who, according the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, attend Mass weekly or more.
The changes go back to 2000, when Pope John Paul II ordered a new edition of the Roman Missal, the collection of daily and Sunday Masses used by the worldwide church.
The updated edition contains a few new Masses for special occasions. And it contains texts for Masses offered for recently canonized saints, including Katharine Drexel, founder of Xavier University. Her Mass is celebrated on March 3.Beyond that, the Vatican ordered a new English re-translation of all prayers, from top to bottom. In particular, it wanted more literal translations of Latin prayers reaching back to the 6th century, and a more elevated tone to the prayers.
For critics, like Trautman, the changes produce prayers that sound stilted, archaic and too often obscure.
“Again and again proclaimablility and comprehension are sacrificed for the sake of maintaining the Latin single-sentence structure,” he wrote in U.S. Catholic magazine last year.
But the retranslation has its fans, as well, who say the new work offers a sense of exaltation and recovers Scripture references that early Christians knew so well.For instance, a frequent prayer before the consecration of bread and wine that until now observed that people gather “so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made,” becomes re-translated, “so that from the rising of the sun to its setting,” a sacrifice may be offered. Advocates like the more poetic language, as well as the recovery of the specific Scriptural images in Isaiah, Malachi and Psalm 113.
“Those Catholics who grumble about the new translation without looking at the Latin have no idea how much has been lost to us English speakers these last 40 years,” wrote Anthony Esolen, a professor of English at Providence College in the journal First Things.
One new passage has produced a good deal of attention on a matter of substance, not style.At the dramatic center of the Mass, Christ’s description of his impending death now refers to his sacrifice “for you and for many.” To many ears, that suggests his death was not for “for you and for all,” a core Christian teaching, as the previous version said.
But the Vatican explains the change as the correct translation of the original Latin. And it says the prayer acknowledges that Christ’s sacrifice “for many” rather than “all” means only that salvation is not automatic, but still hinges on individual acceptance.
Aymond is among those who believe the global church in the late 1960s underestimated how the switch to Mass in local languages would leave a significant minority of Catholics feeling spiritually impoverished, despite the gains in accessibility.
“I think the church did not do a good job in preparing people (back then),” he said this week. “This time, those of us who went through that said, ‘We want to get this right.’”
So the American bishops, led by Aymond’s Committee on Divine Worship, months ago began rolling out an extensive education campaign in the country’s nearly 18,000 Catholic parishes, including the 100 or so around New Orleans.
Parishioners were invited to workshops, pastors have used parts of Masses to explain the upcoming changes, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has produced an array of online videos, DVDs and other teaching materials.Some prayers sung to new musical accompaniment were unveiled weeks ago so worshippers could learn the new music.
But around the English speaking world, from North America to Australia and South Africa, all the changes roll out today, the vigil of the first Sunday in Advent, which is the first weekend of the church’s liturgical year.
Aymond and others said it will take a few weeks for regular church-goers to become comfortable with translations in the missal’s third edition.
But in New Orleans, he has announced that the archdiocese will use the changes in the new missal as a jumping off point for a year’s worth of coordinated teaching on the meaning of the Mass in Catholic life.
Bruce Nolan can be reached at 504.826.3344, or bnolan@timespicayune.com
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