Changes in Mass will alter most prayers
We will have to keep our eyes on our Missalettes ™ for the first few months once the new translation of the Roman Missal takes effect nationwide on the first Sunday of Advent 2011. However, we’ll have a year to learn about the changes.
Just about every prayer said during the Mass has undergone some tweaking in the just-approved English-language translation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal. The Gloria, the Nicene Creed, the Dialogues or exchanges between celebrant and people, the Eucharistic Prayers, even some of the words of the consecration, change with a new philosophy of translation that requires closer adherence to the Latin. The new translation is both more poetic and more formal than liturgies of the past 40 years.
One example is the use of chant is emphasized in the new version of the Mass, which should mean more singing throughout by priest and people.
“We’re planning to do a yearlong catechesis on liturgy and specifically in the Mass,” said Patrick Vallez-Kelly, director of the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, saying the changes will be introduced initially during the year in the parishes with bulletin announcements and inserts, and then more intensively in the weeks leading up to the changeover November 27, 2011.
The transition will be greatest for priests who will have to learn to say the Mass in a different cadence, because though the language will remain English it will often reflect the grammatical structure of the Latin prayers, said Msgr. Anthony F. Sherman, executive director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“It’s a challenge for any priest because they have–so many of us have–a grieving process to go through. The words we have been praying for the past 40 years have gotten into our bones,” said Vallez-Kelly.
While the new translation was set in motion by Pope John Paul II, who commissioned the Third Edition of the Missal in 1997, it also reflects very clearly the desire of Pope Benedict XVI to refine the manner in which we celebrate the Church’s liturgy, said Vallez-Kelly. The language of the Church is Latin and each Missal is originally written in Latin, based on the earlier official version, and then each national church translates it with final approval or the recognitio by the Holy See.
“You might call it a more vertical approach. Recall that the primary purpose of the liturgy is the worship of God and through that, the sanctification and unification of people,” Vallez-Kelly said. “In the liturgy we’ve had, it’s been a very familiar way of speaking but the new translation reflects the original Latin’s more humble stance before God.”
The American translation process began in 2002 when the Missal was published in Latin and continued with participation for numerous groups, including particularly the U.S. bishops, with the edited final text approved in March and received by the American bishops on August 20. In 2001, the Holy See issued guidelines for translation requiring “formal equivalency” rather than the “dynamic equivalency” used for translations in the years after Vatican II. “Dynamic equivalency allows for translations of ideas rather than word-for-word strict following of the text. It allows for more fluency and even at times for paraphrase,” Vallez-Kelly said.”The advantage is you get a text that at times seems familiar. But, in formal equivalency there is much more attention to word order and to strict word-for-word translation. It provides for a more precise, or literal translation.”
In the Nicene Creed, where for 40 years American Catholics have said “one in being with the Father,” we will now say “begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.” We will also say, “I believe” rather than “We believe.” And in answering the priest when he says, “The Lord be with you,” the people will answer “And with your spirit,” rather than “And also with you.”
The new translation changes “cup” to “chalice” in the consecration and changes the words, “It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me,” to “which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin.”
The man charged by the bishops with explaining the changes in workshops around the country, Msgr. Sherman, said, “The challenge is not to lose sight that Christ suffered, died and rose for every person and the change in the translation is not meant to convey any difference in this.” He noted that only the Holy Father can change the words of the consecration and Pope Benedict XVI made the decision, largely because “for many” is closer to the Latin and also because while Christ died for all, only some accept him.
The Second Vatican Council spurred a reform of all the liturgical rites with the 1963 document Sacrosanctum Concilium, beginning a dramatic change in the Church’s liturgical life. In the Mass, some of the results were turning the altar around so the priest faced the people in most places, allowing Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than only in Latin, adding more Scripture readings to each Mass, and more Scripture readings and more Mass options to the liturgical years. The first Missal reflecting those changes was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 with parts of it published in English in 1970 and the entire translation available in 1974. A second edition was published in 1975, with the English translation approved in 1985.
By Valerie Schmalz
From September 3, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
