As many of you have already heard, H.E. Francis Cardinal George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently announced the First Sunday of Advent of 2011 (or November 27, 2011) as the implementation date of the Third Typical Edition of the Roman Missal in the United States.
Many are asking why do we need a new translation, why now at a moment when much of the English church is struggling and why change what we are used to. Hopefully this brief explanation of the process will help answer some of those questions. The decision to revamp the language of the mass was not a decision in and of itself, but rather the confluence of a series of events. After the Second Vatican Council and in accordance with the liturgical reforms laid out by the council fathers Pope Paul VI promulgated the new Roman Missal in 1969, this was the First Typical Edition of the Roman Missal ("typical" here is for the most part synonymous with the word "standard"). Many committees based on language group were formed to translate the Missal from its original Latin into the various languages of the Church, this first time ever this was done. The English translation of that Missal is the one that we have grown to know and love over the course of the past forty years. In 1975 the Missal was revised a bit and a Second Typical Edition was promulgated by Paul VI. The revisions to this edition were relatively minor and thus the English Missal simply maintained the translation that already existed and only tweaked where the original Latin was tweaked. In 2002 Pope John Paul II promulgated the Third Typical Edition of the Roman Missal. Again in the original Latin the changes were relatively minor, the addition of a few new saints on the Roman Calendar and the clarification of a few practices in the Preface or the General Instruction (these practices, such as bowing during the words "he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man" during the recitation of the Creed, have already been implemented). However in 2001 the Holy See issued a document entitled Liturgiam Authenticam regarding the use of the vernacular in the books of the Roman Liturgy.
This document called for a closer translation of liturgical books from the original Latin text into their respective vernacular languages. For the many folks who speak the romance languages this is no large issue because the root of their language is Latin and the translation is fairly easy and accurate. However for those of us who do not speak a romance language the task of translation is far more tedious and complicated, as we try to capture sentiments expressed by expressions, sentence structures, and verb constructions that simply do not exist in our language. Liturgiam Authenticam asked that the translations of new liturgical texts be kept as true to the original Latin text as possible. This meant that when the Third Typical Edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated in 2002, we were not able to simply able to tweak what we already had in English, but needed to take a serious look at what our English translation said and whether or not it could be improved. When the original 1969 Missal was translated the process focused on trying to best capture what was said in Latin using common English parlance. What resulted was a translation that was fairly intelligible and mostly captured the gist of what the Latin text is trying to say. This process too was not perfect and some of the translations in the Missal we have been using since that time have felt inadequate. The best way to demonstrate the differences in how we translate Latin into English would be through an example.
The greeting and response we all know well from mass is: “The Lord be with you…and also with you.” The Latin text for this greeting has always been “Dominus Vobíscum…et cum spíritu túo.” Even with a modicum of Latin, or for that matter Spanish, Italian, or French, it is easy to see that the word “spirit” appears in the Latin and not in the English. In the new translation the response to “the Lord be with you” will now be rendered as “and with your spirit.” Thus the new translation in a sense more closely follows what is in the Latin. Again for our Spanish speaking brothers and sisters the response to “El Señor esté con ustedes” has always been “Y con tu espíritu,” which rendered into English is also “and with your spirit.”
Now there are many legitimate arguments regarding dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence and which sort of translation is more beneficial to the English speaking Church. This is an argument I will not get into, given that much has already been said by much more knowledgeable people than I. However it should suffice to say that this process of translation took a lot of time and has certainly not been without controversy as many bishops and scholars discussed how to best capture the Latin text of the Roman Missal and as stated above the Holy See has finally approved the final product. The new translation will be a big change for the Church in the English speaking world, like all human endeavors this translation is not perfect and adjusting to it is going to be a challenge for all of us. However this new translation also provides the English speaking Church with many beneficial opportunities as well. It will give all of us the opportunity to listen more attentively at mass as we adjust to the new language. We know well how easy it is to get distracted during mass, we start thinking about the Jets game that afternoon and before you know it we are at the Our Father. As we implement the new translation we will have to chance to be captivated by the liturgy as we listen for and adjust to the new language.
The language itself will be a bit wordier, often times making the prayers more poetic and beautiful, but also at times making them more verbose and a bit wordy. Though it is often difficult for us to grow into change, our transition to this new translation will be much easier if we come to it with open minds and hearts. There are many beautiful elements to the new translation and it would be a shame if we missed them due to our own anger or hesitation over a new translation.
It is also important for us to remember that we are not changing the Mass. The Eucharistic Sacrifice was given to us by Jesus Christ and is eternal and unchanging. Though the specific wording and gestures we use might change from time to time, the inherent nature of the Mass does not. While the way Mass sounds might be different and the words might be a bit more formal and academic, we need to remember that the Mass itself is still the same, that Christ is still present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the sacrifice we offer. As we begin the transition to a new translation may we keep in mind just how great a gift we have been given in the Eucharist itself.
For those who are interested on reading more on the topic, the USCCB has put together a very nice website (complete with countdown clock) at www.usccb.org/romanmissal/
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