THE ASSOCIATION of Catholic Priests will wait “at least until St
Patrick’s Day” for a response from the Catholic bishops to its request
to postpone introduction of a new translation of the Roman missal
pending consultation with people and priests.
Fr Seán McDonagh of
the association said yesterday this remained the group’s position
despite an announcement by Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady last
Monday that the missal would be introduced on the first Sunday of
Advent, November 27th, as in the rest of the English-speaking world.
Last
week, members of the association met the bishops’ Commission for
Worship, Pastoral Renewal and Faith Development at Maynooth and
expressed strong criticism of the new translation, which they said
presented serious pastoral difficulties.
Commission members at the
meeting included Bishop Séamus Freeman, the chairman; Bishop John
McAreavey; Bishop Philip Boyce; Bishop Martin Drennan; and Auxiliary
Bishop Donal McKeown.
Bishop Freeman assured the association he
would share its concerns with the Episcopal Conference and would contact
it when a decision was made on its request.
Fr Mc Donagh said Thursday the association awaited the bishops’ response.
He said he
assumed Cardinal Brady had yet to become involved in discussions on the
matter with the other bishops and “would be very upset if, having been
told [of the request], he made his announcement” last Monday.
He
said were the bishops to proceed with the introduction of the missal in
November the association would meet to decide what course of action to
take.
In the current issue of the
Tablet magazine Fr McDonagh refers to a decision by some clergy in Australia and the US to boycott the new missal.
He
said if Rome was willing to allow some members of the church to
continue to use “the Pius V missal” because they couldn’t in conscience
use the new one, he didn’t see why Rome could not accommodate those who
say they cannot “in conscience use this new one for theological
reasons”.
The association was formed last September.
Among its
objectives is to provide “a voice for Irish Catholic priests at a time
when that voice is largely silent and needs to be expressed”.