IRELAND’S CATHOLIC bishops are to publish a statement “shortly” on the new translation of the Roman missal, they said Friday.
The translation is to be used in Ireland from Advent next December.
At
Maynooth last week members of the bishops’ Commission for Worship,
Pastoral Renewal and Faith Development met the Association of Catholic
Priests.
Forthright criticisms of the new translation were
expressed by priests. Their discussions coincided with the spring
meeting of the Irish Episcopal Conference.
In attendance at the
meeting with the association were five bishops, all members of the
commission, including its chairman Bishop Seamus Freeman.
Killala
priest Fr Brendan Hoban called for implementation of the translation to
be suspended so priests and people could be properly consulted. What was
on offer was very deficient, especially in the use of exclusive
language, and had been imposed from Rome, he said, according to minutes
on the association website.
It was priests who would face the
hostility of many Catholics, especially women, towards the new
translation, he said. He said it would be unfair to use it in nursing
homes where people were very familiar with the old translations.
Kilmore priest Fr Gerard Alwill criticised the secrecy surrounding the translation process.
He said there was major dissatisfaction with the archaic terms, long, convoluted sentences and sexist language it used.
Kildare
and Leighlin priest Fr PJ Madden spoke of a recent meeting in Carlow
attended by 60 priests where many said the new texts were not wanted. He
felt that at the meeting there was no real effort to take on board the
deeply felt concerns of the priests.
Fr Pádraig McCarthy of the
Dublin archdiocese suggested the bishops suspend publication of the new
translation immediately. A leaflet highlighting its pros and cons should
be circulated, after which priests and parish liturgical groups should
make their views known to the local bishop and the National Centre for
Liturgy at Maynooth, he said.
Dublin priest Fr Dermot Lane said
the word “consubstantial”, for instance, as used in the new translation,
was transliteration and not used in mainstream English.
He
suggested a process of consultation with the people should take place on
the new translation such as that used to prepare the new
National Directory for Catechesis . He noted that as early as
2003 the Catholic Biblical Association of America was critical of the
new translation of the missal.
Columban priest Fr Seán McDonagh
said the word “man”, as used in it, was no longer a common noun in
contemporary English, and the excuse for using sexist language in the
new translation smacked of Humpty Dumpty in
Alice through the Looking Glass , where he said “when I use a word . . . it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”