Wording of Mass liturgy undergoes change

By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer

Four decades ago, as part of a sweeping reform that was called Vatican II, Roman Catholics around the world began to celebrate the Mass in their native languages instead of in Latin.

On Sunday, another seismic language shift will take place in Catholicism.

English-speaking Catholics will stop using the translation they have known for the past 40 years, and will adopt a new English translation of the Roman Missal, the book that contains the liturgy and prayers used in the Mass.

For example, when the priest opens the Mass with, "The Lord be with you," worshipers will not reply "And also with you" as they have done for decades, but instead will reply, "And with your spirit."

The 1970 translation of the Latin into English came out of the Second Vatican Council's decision to put the Mass in the everyday language of the people, part of an effort to open up and modernize the church.

Monsignor Patrick Brankin, who oversees liturgy for the Diocese of Tulsa, said the new translation adheres more closely to the original Latin.

"When the Mass was first translated from Latin, which is the official language of the church, after the Second Vatican Council, the prevailing understanding was what was called dynamic equivalency, conveying the meaning of the text without being too literal, or relying on the Latin words," Brankin said.

Since then, under the leadership of the late Pope John Paul II, the church adopted new translation guidelines that reflect greater understanding of the way the original language forms prayer, he said.

Using those guidelines, church scholars developed the new English translation that takes effect Sunday. Other languages will follow.

"It's more authentic, and it also uses words that are a particular religious expression," Brankin said.

Cup, for example, is now translated chalice, which connotes a ritual vessel, not an ordinary drinking cup.

The Rev. Daniel Mueggenborg, pastor of Christ the King Catholic Church, was in Rome for the past six years, and often discussed the project with the Vox Clara committee, the group of bishops and consultants working on the translation.

They were motivated, he said, "very clearly by a desire to more authentically and accurately reflect the faith of the church in the prayers that are being spoken."

"I'm excited about it. It gives us the opportunity to deepen our appreciation of the liturgy, and also to pray more closely in communion with the church throughout the world, (using) a translation that is more faithful to the original text," he said.

Across the nation, some priests and parishioners have voiced objections to the new translation, calling it awkward and difficult to understand, but the Tulsa Diocese has seen little backlash to the upcoming change.

"If their pastors are encouraging and positive about it, the people will be fine with it," said Monsignor Dennis Dorney, pastor emeritus at St. Mary's Church in Brookside, still a practicing priest despite his official retirement status.

"You're always going to have some who don't like it, and some who are thrilled with it," he said.

"I think, by and large, our priests are fine with it."

The new translation will be a big change for Dorney himself, who has used the old translation for 43 years.

He was ordained into the priesthood in 1967, near the time that the Catholic Church dropped the Latin Mass and went to the language of the people.

"I grew up with the Latin Mass, of course, but I was never trained in it," he said.

He said he is doing a lot of study to prepare for the changes, and will have to rely on the new Roman Missal until he learns it.

"I think it'll be OK," he said.

Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas, pastor of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, said he is happy with the new translation.

"The language is more elevated. I've heard it described as a modified Elizabethan English," he said.

"It probably is a more exalted language, a more poetic rendering of some of the texts.

"It's more faithful to the Latin."

Gaalaas said the new translation more precisely renders some technical religious terms.

For example, he said, it says Jesus is "consubstantial" with the father, rather than "one in being" with the father, more accurately communicating the meaning of the Latin text that Jesus is of one substance with the father.

Gaalaas said he has not heard complaints from his parishioners about the upcoming changes.

"They know it's coming, and they're very accepting of it," he said.

Sunday's changes will not surprise most Catholics.

The Diocese of Tulsa has conducted numerous seminars and training sessions over the past year for priests, musicians, lay leaders and parishioners.

The Eastern Oklahoma Catholic magazine published monthly articles all year explaining the changes.

Pew cards will be in many churches Sunday to help people make the adjustment.


Translations compared

1970: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."

1970: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father."

2011: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

2011: "I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages."


Original Print Headline: Church changes wording of Mass liturgy