The Roman Catholic Church is about to publish a new English language text of the Missal.
The general idea seems to be that the initial post Vatican II venture into the vernacular actually turned out to be a bit of a sloppy job and the text is now being refined to more accurately reflect the latin original and a host of theological subtleties that had been missed in the rush to print.
For example, "and with you" will now be "and with your spirit".
Sounds to me like a return to the pre Vatican II translation. But there are many more subtle examples and you can judge for yourself.
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Rita Ferrone teases out the details and implications of the new text.
Her conclusion is:
"Beneath the words of the new translation, one senses a drive to minimize the practical effects of Vatican II. The reforms of Vatican II prized clarity and intelligibility in the liturgy; they gave priority to the work of ecumenism and evangelization; they respected the local work of bishops conferences; they invited aggiornamento and engagement with the world. This vital heritage is being eclipsed by another agenda. We are seeing a wooden loyalty to the Latin text at the price of clarity and intelligibility. We are seeing a retreat from advances already made in ecumenism. We are seeing the proper role of local bishops and bishops conferences increasingly taken over by the authorities in Rome. We are seeing the liturgy reimagined as an event taking place in some sacral space outside of our world, rather than the beating heart of a world made new."
She makes a convincing case that this exercise is a regression from the Vatican II approach.
Par for the course then?
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