| THE VATICAN has finally approved a new translation of the most important parts of the Roman Catholic mass for use throughout the English-speaking world.
The translation, which will replace the existing version from 1970, has been prepared by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), of which 11 bishops’ conferences are members, including those in Britain, Ireland, and North America. Its work has been under way for some years, and has been delayed in Rome.
In his letter to the Conference of Bishops of the United States accompanying the translation, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Francis Arinze, wrote: “The attached text is to be considered binding. For its part, this Congregation is confident that the universal use of these texts will greatly contribute to the building up of the Faith throughout the broad and diverse English-speaking world.” The Cardinal does not mention ecumenical considerations.
It is understood that each bishops’ conference may be able to make its own minor variants.
The style of the translation reflects a desire to reflect the Latin original more closely. The US Committee on Divine Worship describes it as “marked by a heightened style of English speech and a grammatical structure that is based on the Latin text”.
The new translation has been welcomed by some traditionalists. The Daily Telegraph leader writer Damian Thompson wrote on his blog that it was “a great improvement on the current one — i.e. liberals have lost all sorts of liturgical battles”.
The Revd Dr Simon Jones, the chaplain of Merton College, Oxford, and a consultant to the C of E Liturgical Commission, said on Wednesday: “The grammatical construction and rhetorical style of the prayers give the rite as a whole a distinctly archaic feel, which is in stark contrast to its predecessor. . . The departure from the use of ecumenically agreed texts will undoubtedly be a cause for concern.”
The texts are not being issued for immediate use in church, but Mgr Bruce Harbert of ICEL told The Catholic Herald that the new service could be in use in England “probably at the end of 2010 or maybe 2011”.
A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was not able to confirm on Wednesday whether the material had been received by the English bishops.
The texts and further information are available at www.usccb.org/liturgy/ |
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