About the New Translation

"No book on doctrine will teach you as much as the missal--provided you bring some knowlege with you" F.J. Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Third Edition, 1981. Servant Books, Ann Arbor, MI.)

And that is why the new translation is so important! Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi gets tossed out, but the reality is, our faith is understood in prayer. And the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Eucharist, is the source and summit of Christian prayer.

That's why the Code of Canon Law stipulates that Roman Catholics have a right to the Roman Liturgy. Because after we finish our basic Catechises, the Theology of the Church is made manifest, and broadcast with profligate abandon in her liturgy.

Now there are people who object to the new translation of the Roman Missal in good faith--they feel that it may be lacking in English grammatical forms etc. However, I feel that these objections are immaterial, while the current translation is obviously inadequate for wither devotion or the transmission of the Truths and Mysteries of our faith.

I'm going to give you an idea of why I say this, by quoting from the blog The Roman Sacristan. This is the collect for Pentecost Sunday:

Current ICEL Translation:

Let us pray. God our Father, let the Spirit you sent on your Church to begin the teaching of the Gospel continue to work in the world through the hearts of all who believe.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you And the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Roman Sacristans Literal Translation:

Let us pray. O God, Who by the Mysteries of Today's feast, Sanctifies Your universal Church
in every people and nation, pour out upon the whole breadth of the world the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and because Divine Worthiness was worked among then in the very beginnings of the preaching of the Gospel, make them now to flow through the hearts of believers.
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, Who lives and reigns with You, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever.

These are very different prayers. In the ICEL current translation, too much emphasis is placed upon the believers, and not enough on God. The second translation points out that it is through the generosity of God, in his Love and Mercy, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are made available. Moreover, it emphasises the need of the church for these gifts by it's tone of supplication. It also comments through description of how the Gifts of the Holy Spirit work in the world. (Where the first seems to be speaking about how the believers work.) It is well to remember that all the good that we do, that any role we play in the evangelization (and the word evangelization comes from the word for Gospel in most languages!) isn't us: it is the Holy Spirit.

So yes, we need a new translation. (The "absolution" at the end of the penitential rite in the current translations is nothing like what is in the Missae Typica! and that's just one example. The memorial acclamations as well are different enough to be different prayers!)

And I have to say that Bp Trautman's objections strike me as spurious--he raises one set, it gets shot down, he raises another, and so forth. I have reached the inescapable conclusion that this Prelates obstreperous actions stem not from concerns about the translation on offer, but from a desire to obscure the theology of the Mass, so as not to have to deal with the hard sayings.

(Hard Sayings? Look at the long version of the sequence for Corpus Christi--the one that most parishes don't use when they can get away with it. It mentions unworthy Communion and Damnation--yes, it addresses one of the problems in the church in America Today! And the communion verse from the Graduale--the official and recommended music for the Roman Rite mentions the guilt incurred by unworthy reception!)

Here we have the best opportunity in a generation to correct the bad Liturgy and worse education we have suffered through, and many who should be living up to their vocation to "Teach, Sanctify and Rule" are afraid that some people will be offended by the wholeness of the Catholic Faith, and the Sacrifice of the Mass.