The New Missal is Coming Soon!

So the announcement is out, the new English translation of the Roman Missal will be implemented during the season of Advent in 2011. As I have written previously, I have had concerns about this translation and the process by which it came about. I will express one more, in that the work of translation was carried out with little or no consultation with the lay faithful. Since we are the majority of participants in the liturgy, some means of consultation should have been established. The translators, the officials who approved the translation, should have been open to feedback from the laity, open to hearing our reactions and concerns about these changes in the translation.

Now it is coming, and now it is important for the bishops, liturgists, and priests not to screw up this implementation; as happened when the vernacular was first introduced. It is not enough to school the laity on how to pray the new translation; we need to know why the changes were made, why the changes make liturgical and theological sense. And a means must be provided for some of us to be able vent our frustrations, our anger over the translation; and know we are being listened to, and our opinions respected.

Strap on your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, this could be a bumpy ride!

Time of Change Coming Closer

The National Catholic Reporter website is carrying a Catholic News Service story on the completion of the new English translation of the Roman Missal, and its presentation to Pope Benedict XVI. It is suppose to be a closer translation of the Latin, and has more formal liturgical tone. The versions that have adaptations for specific English speaking countries should be approved soon.

As I may have written in an earlier post, I am not too crazy about this translation, at least as illustrated by the samples shown on the National Catholic Conference of Bishops website. I think people will find it awkward and does not flow as it currently does. I have no idea how music composers are going to convert these words into new hymns. From my point of view, the goal of liturgy, of good liturgy, is to help people to encounter, to experience the divine. Experience it as a worshipping community; experience it by witnessing the coming of the Lord Jesus in consecrated bread and wine. Liturgical language must then aid this experience, must speak to the minds and hearts of the community. This can lead to a tension between being faithful to the Tradition handed down since the time of the Apostles; and speaking to the people of this time and place.

Still, no matter how any one of us may have felt about this translation, how it was put together, it is going to be a part of our liturgical life soon. We will just have to trust in the Holy Spirit, that it will guide us and inspire us as we gather to worship.

Image from CNS.