Dominus Vobiscum

“The time has come to renew that spirit which inspired the Church at the moment when the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium was promulgated. The seed was sown … the seed has sprouted…” In a word, the acceptance of the new Missal is “a moment to sink our roots deeper into the soil of tradition handed on in the Roman Rite” ~ Pope John Paul II, Vicesimus Quintus Annus, #23

I had a lot of sympathy for those who joined the 'Why don't we just say wait' movement about the upcoming change in translation philosophy affecting English-speaking  Catholics. I think that I even signed the petition, since in a time when the Church here in the U.S.A. is so fragmented, the very LAST thing that we need is something new to fight about!  One thing that is absolutely driving me batty is charges that the current mass propers are 'wrong' somehow, that they were not translated properly or that the devil hijacked the translation or some other such nonsense.  The following video does an excellent job of dispelling these rumors being spread in some circles.

A New Translation: Why and How?

In this video, Monsignor James P. Moroney explains the whys and the hows of the new missal. He is a faculty member of Saint John's Seminary and serves as Executive Secretary to the Vox Clara Commission. A consultant to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Monsignor Moroney is a Priest of the Diocese of Worcester and Rector of Saint Paul’s Cathedral.

 


http://www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=114&videoID=1511

Consistency, sincerity, and honesty are very important to me.  I will find it very difficult to let the words they bid me to say flow from my lips:  so difficult, in fact, that I am seriously considering switching to a Spanish-language mass on Sundays during Advent this year.  My main problem is that the way that we modern speakers of English now use only one 'you' instead of the two forms that the Romance languages use.  Further, what we hear today when someone uses the intimate, familiar 'you' has exactly the opposite connotation of the original prayers.  The words "Thee" and "Thou" are rarely heard, and then usually only addressed to heaven.  The connotation of the archaic language is that of a great gulf between us and those we address.  That's not what the meaning is at all in the Missal.  The relationship we hear is that of a country peon on his knees prostrate as the emperor's procession passes, and that has absolutely NOTHING to do with our relationship to the Christ. Our union with Our Lord isn't one of bowing and scraping, but that of the most intimate embrace between Bride and Bridegroom; through Jesus, we share in His intimate relationship with Our Father and the Holy Spirit.

My opinion is that the long clauses, flowery phrases, and use of words never heard at all in daily discourse in the new translation will bring us FARTHER from the sense of the Roman missal, not closer.  In the long run, the change will most probably decrease mass attendance and result in even more disaffected youth than we have today.  If it is true, as many believe, that our catechesis has been deficient over the past twenty years when the Ordinary has been intelligible, when even more schooling will be required for active participation at mass, is it reasonable to expect a better outcome?

One change that I think might be fruitful would be to leave the traditional greeting "Dominus vobiscum" between the priest and the congregation untranslated in the latin rite, and to also revert to the original Greek in the Kyrie.  Requiring the Latin the Agnus Dei during Advent and Lent also would preserve the echoes from the past that are important in handing on our faith traditions and inspiring feelings of continuity with the whole communion of saints.  Only a tiny minority within our ranks have any family tradition of praying in the Latin language, however, so most of the suggestions I've heard seem very counter-productive.

Latin scholars are very rare.  Many of our worldwide vernacular translations of the Roman Missal are no longer made directly, but through an intermediate language.  In most cases, that language is English. While I recognize this need of the universal Church to have an "authoritative English translation" from which the mass propers can be faithfully translated, the Pope and his bishops ask too great a sacrifice of everyone in the English-speaking world in adopting that translation as the words we pray at mass.  Those who speak English as a native language in Nigeria, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, etc. shouldn't be treated as if they share only one cultural heritage, and enforcing only one language translation for the propers has that effect.