Last weekend, Catholics in England and Wales had their first
taste of the new translation of the Mass where the new texts are
gradually being introduced with accompanying catechesis.
The first element to be introduced in the new form is the Order of
the Mass.
This is the central body of texts that are constant at all
celebrations: the people’s responses, the Gloria, the Creed and the
Eucharistic prayers.
This coming weekend will see the first official introduction of the new
translation at Irish masses.
Here, from Sunday September 11, the
people’s responses will be in the new form, however unlike the UK, other
parts of the order of the Mass like the Eucharistic Prayers, will still
be in the old form.
According to Fr Patrick Jones from the National Centre for Liturgy in
Maynooth, a certain amount of catechesis explaining the new translation
has been taking place around Ireland, but it has been “uneven.”
“It is happening in some places,” he told ciNews. “I know
of one Dublin parish where they are already using the texts just so they
can get used to them, and they are being well received.”
Fr Jones pointed out that the parts of the Mass where the people’s
responses change are not many, but as the bishops said in an earlier
statement “Mass will sound different.”
For example, the very first
response from the people at the start of Mass to the priest’s “The Lord
be with you” will now be “And with your spirit.”
Missalette publishers and parish bulletins are to include the changes to the peoples’ responses from next weekend.
In both Ireland and Britain, the new edition of the Roman Missal will
be introduced in its entirety at Masses from the first Sunday of
Advent, November 27 2011.
In the lead up to this date, the Church has
prepared a number of explanatory texts and short videos that are
available on www.catholicbishops.ie.
According to Mgr Andrew Wadsworth, chairman of the International
Commission on English in the Liturgy (Icel), the feedback from countries
that have begun using the new translation, has been positive.
“The register of the new Missal better mirrors the qualities of the
original Latin texts and has a more elevated style than the current
translation,” he added.
The Irish language version is already very close to the original
Latin text, though it too is being revised as there is so much new
material introduced in the last 35 years, such as the new Eucharistic
prayers and the Irish Proper of the Saints.
The new missal has been in the making since 1981. An original
English language translation done by Icel was completed in 1998,
approved by Pope John Paul II, but later rejected by the Congregation
for Divine Worship (CDW) which issued an instruction in 2001, Liturgiam
Authenticam, which introduced a “sacral vernacular” that insisted that
the English language version of the Mass should stick to a more literal
translation of the Latin, so that the liturgical texts of the Mass in
all of the languages of the world, would be the same.
“The new translation is much fuller and more faithful to the Latin,”
says Fr Patrick Jones. “In the end no translation is perfect. The best
thing is to try it and see its strengths and weaknesses, as we did in
1975 when the Roman Missal was published.”
The new translation was only approved in 2009, after the Vatican had
appointed its own group of English speaking archbishops, Vox Clara, to
oversee the work of Icel, including Ireland’s bishop of Dromore, John
McAreavey.
Vox Clara made 10,000 changes to Icel’s translation.
When the Pope met with Vox Clara members in 2010, he emphasised the
need for a gradual introduction of the texts with "due sensitivity,"
accompanied by catechesis.
He prayed that, "in this way any risk of confusion or bewilderment
will be averted, and the change will serve instead as a springboard for a
renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the
English-speaking world.