Sunday, April 03, 2011

Church to press ahead with new missal

THE CATHOLIC Church is to go ahead with the introduction of a new Roman missal – the text used for Mass – in November in spite of protests by the Association of Catholic Priests.

In a meeting with bishops last month in Maynooth, the association expressed strong criticism of the new translation, which it said was sexist and cumbersome.

It had called for a suspension of its introduction pending consultations with people and priests.

However, following a response from the bishops, the association released a statement yesterday voicing its regret at the church’s intention to press ahead with the new Mass texts as planned.

“While the bishops listened to our concerns, we regret to say that, judging by their response,they failed to take on board what we said.”

The association added that they remained convinced that the introduction of the new texts would have “serious repercussions for parishes”.

A meeting is planned for June 2nd in Portlaoise to consider a response while members have been encouraged to discuss the matter with their pastoral councils and parishioners.

The updated version of the liturgical texts are due to come into effect across the English speaking world this year on November 27th, the first Sunday of Advent.

Priests in Ireland use an English translation of the Roman missal dating back to 1975.

The Vatican instructions for the translations of the new editions was that they should be more literal and closer to the Latin original than had previously been the case.

Their statement said that the new texts were unfair to female followers of the Catholic faith.

“We fear that the continued use of sexist language with its use of man, men and brothers as generic terms will alienate some women and men,” it said.

The association also raised the issue of theological accuracy in the new missal in which the Eucharist prayers state that Jesus Christ died “for many” rather than “for all”.