Friday, April 08, 2011

New missal will damage 'fabric of worship' in parishes: ACP

The Association of Catholic Priests has complained that the new English language translation of the missal will damage the fabric of worship in parishes. 

In  a statement released after a recent meeting with five bishops, including the bishop of Dromore, John McAreavey, the ACP said the new texts are  “unsuitable and unacceptable” as they are too complex and cumbersome, and in some cases, lacked “theological veracity.”  

They also complain of a lack of consultation, and sexist language.

However, replying to these charges, Bishop McAreavey, the Irish bishop most closely associated with the preparation and translation of the new missal, said that the Irish Bishops conference did not accept that the introduction of the new translation would harm the faith.  

“If we did we would not have approved the introduction of the text,” he told ciNews.

According to Fr Sean McDonagh from ACP, modern linguistics is a dynamic reality. 

“You have to take the text, including the metaphor and try to translate it effectively. You don’t put the structure and syntax of Latin into another language,” he told ciNews. He points to long sentences with many sub clauses and says the missal must be acculturated for an English speaking public. Language should communicate clearly and not obfuscate,” he said. 

Before the second Vatican council, Mass all over the world was said in Latin.  

While the council was still in session, there was a move towards the vernacular, and ICEL was set up to translate the Latin Missal and Mass into English. 

In the beginning, the emphasis appears to have been to introduce accessible, understandable English translations.  

“These texts have served the Church well, and we owe the translators of those texts sincere thanks,” says the Bishop of Dromore in a talk on the Missal to his diocese.

However, since then, the Church has learnt more about the sources of the liturgical texts and a new document in 2001 has put the emphasis on the English language version of the missal being faithful to the original Latin texts.

Bishop McAreavey realises that it will be difficult for priests and people to get used to the new texts, which are more demanding from a language point of view, but he believes that this faithful rendering of the original texts is a great opportunity for Catholics to deepen the understanding of their faith.  

For example, he cites a passage from the Second Eucharistic prayer, “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of Christ.”  

In the original Latin it is the “dew of your Spirit” coming on the gift, (also in the Irish language version it is faithfully translated “le drúcht do Spioraid”).

Bishop McAreavey explains that in Palestine, dew is very important, as there are four months without rain.  “As a figure of speech, it represents abundant fruitfulness, refreshment and renewal, what is beyond human power and a silent coming.”

The new translation faithfully renders the Latin, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.” 

The new missal is due to be introduced in parishes in November 2011.  

Bishop McAreavey has appealed to the faithful, and priests in particular, not to allow the new texts to be a source of division in the life of the Church and he has appealed to every priest to use the new Missal and translation provided in it.  

“The task of preparing priests and people must be an urgent pastoral priority,” he adds.