In just a few short weeks, on the First Sunday of Advent, parishes all across the United States of America will begin using the new English translation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States. As we pray with this new translation, it is an opportunity for Catholics, both lay and clergy, to encounter Christ anew in the Sacred Liturgy. The words of the Sacred Liturgy are sacramental signs of Christ, the Word. As we speak, hear, sing, and pray the words of the Mass, we encounter the Word, Jesus Christ. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, through the liturgy, the work of our redemption is accomplished, most of all in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist. It is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church. (Sacrosanctum Concilium #2)
When the Second Vatican Council provided for wider usage of the vernacular in the Sacred Liturgy, it also envisioned that the initial translations would be reviewed and changed after a time of practical experience using it in the Liturgy. The publication of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal in Latin in 2000 was seen by the Church as the time for this review. Also, in March of 2001, the 5th instruction on vernacular translation of the Roman Liturgy, Liturgiam Authenticam, was issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. This new instruction on translation recognized that various vernacular translations of liturgical texts were in need of improvement through correction or a new draft. This is when the new English translation of the Roman Missal began.
Liturgiam Authenticam mandated a method of translation called ‘formal equivalency’. This method of translation requires that the texts be translated without omissions, as close to the original Latin syntax as possible and doctrinally precise, using language that preserves the dignity and beauty of the original text. This method of translation is very different from the method used by the translators of the current Missal. The translators of the 1970 Missal following the 1969 instruction Comme le Prevoit used a method called ‘dynamic equivalency’ for their translation which allowed translators to render the text more freely, in a sense to re-imagine the text in the common language of the people. This method allowed for the paraphrasing of texts and removing those parts of the text that were considered to be superfluous. In many instances, with this method of translation, much of the richness of the language present in the Latin liturgy was literally lost in translation.
When the Second Vatican Council provided for wider usage of the vernacular in the Sacred Liturgy, it also envisioned that the initial translations would be reviewed and changed after a time of practical experience using it in the Liturgy. The publication of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal in Latin in 2000 was seen by the Church as the time for this review. Also, in March of 2001, the 5th instruction on vernacular translation of the Roman Liturgy, Liturgiam Authenticam, was issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. This new instruction on translation recognized that various vernacular translations of liturgical texts were in need of improvement through correction or a new draft. This is when the new English translation of the Roman Missal began.
Liturgiam Authenticam mandated a method of translation called ‘formal equivalency’. This method of translation requires that the texts be translated without omissions, as close to the original Latin syntax as possible and doctrinally precise, using language that preserves the dignity and beauty of the original text. This method of translation is very different from the method used by the translators of the current Missal. The translators of the 1970 Missal following the 1969 instruction Comme le Prevoit used a method called ‘dynamic equivalency’ for their translation which allowed translators to render the text more freely, in a sense to re-imagine the text in the common language of the people. This method allowed for the paraphrasing of texts and removing those parts of the text that were considered to be superfluous. In many instances, with this method of translation, much of the richness of the language present in the Latin liturgy was literally lost in translation.
However, using Liturgiam Authenticam as the basis for this new translation of the texts we pray in the Mass, we will be praying in English, in some ways for the first time, the ancient texts that Church has prayed for hundreds of years. This new translation reflects the dignity and noble simplicity of the original Latin. The English used in the translation is not the language of everyday speech, but the elevated language of great poetry and prose, language that is worthy of the worship of Almighty God. The translation, because of its closeness to the original Latin, reflects more precisely the doctrine of the Church, sometimes using words which, while part of the patrimony of the Church, are unfamiliar to our ears. The new translation of the Roman Missal will also more closely connect the English used in the Roman Missal to what is already being prayed in the majority of European languages, including Spanish.
Over the past 10 years the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with the Episcopal conferences of English speaking countries throughout the world, has gone through a lengthy process to gain the approval of the Holy See of the English translation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal. The amount of consultation involved in the creation of this new English translation is unprecedented in the history of the English translation of liturgical texts.
Many of you may be curious as to what will be different when we begin using the new English translation. First, there will be no changes in what we do at Mass, as those changes were implemented a number of years ago when the General Instruction of the Roman Missal was published. The changes will be in the words we pray. The lay faithful will notice changes in the Gloria, the Creed, and in some of the responses they make. The changes are actually much more extensive for the priests who will be celebrating Mass. All of the Eucharistic prayers are newly translated as are the collects (opening prayers), the prayers over the gifts, and the prayers after communion.
This will certainly be a time of adjustment for all of us, but as we pray with the newly translated texts, they will help us to come to a better understanding of the doctrinal teachings of the Church and how richly and beautifully our faith is expressed in the liturgy. Many of us might be familiar with the Latin phrase lex orandi, lex credendi – the way of prayer is the way of belief. The words that we speak, hear, sing, and pray in the Sacred Liturgy express our belief in Christ the Word as well as that faith of the Church that Christ revealed to the Apostles and that has been the lived tradition of the Church through her 2000 years of history.
As together we make this liturgical transition and adjustment, we need to remember how fortunate we are to be alive in this historic moment in the Church as the vision of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council comes to a new maturity with the approval of the English translation of the Roman Missal. Rather than a break with the Council, as some have suggested, the new English translation of the Roman Missal is actually the fulfillment of the vision of Vatican II in more fully leading the faithful to that fully conscious, and active participation in the liturgy that is presented in the documents of the Council. It is also a new occasion for us to understand the Liturgy as “the source and font of the Christian life.” This is truly a blessed time for the English speaking Church to be transformed by the holy and living sacrifice we celebrate in the liturgy.
Furthermore, the implementation of the English translation of the Roman Missal presents the Church in the United States, especially the local Church in the Diocese of Fort Worth, with a unique opportunity to spend some time reacquainting ourselves with the beauty and dignity of the Holy Mass. This past year has been a time of catechesis throughout the Diocese of Fort Worth as we prepare for the new translation. The diocesan Offices of Worship and Adult Catechesis have sponsored workshops for priests and deacons, lay liturgical and catechetical leaders, and Catholic school principals and teachers. The Fort Worth Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians has sponsored listening sessions for musicians in various places throughout the diocese. Many parishes have held workshops on the new translation, provided information through bulletin inserts, and through homilies. This has been a wonderful opportunity for us as a diocese to work together, in true communio, to accomplish this great task. As we pray with the new translation there will be continued opportunities to reflect on and deepen our encounter with Christ in the Sacred Liturgy through or own prayer and reflection and by taking advantage of opportunities to deepen our understanding of the Mass. It will not be easy, change never comes easy, but with patience, cooperation, and above all with prayer, together we can accomplish this great work of renewal in the liturgy we celebrate.
When presented with the new English translation of the Roman Missal, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI had this to say: “Many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation. The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity and the opportunity for catechesis that it presents will need to be firmly grasped. I pray 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.”
I want to thank all of you in advance for your cooperation, patience, and openness as we make this important liturgical transition. It is my sincere hope that, as we begin praying with the new English translation of the Roman Missal, we may all come to a deeper love and appreciation for the great gift of the Mass where, in the words of Blessed Pope John Paul II, “the Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 19) During this time of change I am also reminded of this statement from the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: “Zeal for the promotion and restoration of the liturgy is rightly held to be a sign of the providential dispositions of God in our time, as a movement of the Holy Spirit in His Church.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium #43)
O God, who in your wonderful providence decreed that Christ’s Kingdom should be extended throughout the earth and that all should become partakers of his saving redemption; grant, we pray that your Church may be the universal sacrament of salvation, and that Christ may be revealed to all as the hope of the nations and their Savior. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-(Collect ‘For the Church’ from the Roman Missal prayed at the end of the presentation of the Missal to Pope Benedict XVI on April 28, 2010)