New translation ‘should be permitted’

A former chairman of the body that oversaw the translation of the English Missal has said many Catholics are dissatisfied with the current Mass text and should be allowed to use a different version, writes Christopher Lamb.

The Bishop Emeritus of Galloway, Maurice Taylor, who was chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) from 1997-2002, said the Holy See should allow the use of the 1998 translation.

That version was approved by bishops’ conferences but was later rejected by the Vatican. A new translation, seen by critics as awkward and clunky, was introduced in November 2011.

“Many people are dissatisfied and unhappy with the present translation which we have to use,” Bishop Taylor told The Tablet. “A precedent for having a choice of approved translations of the Missal already exists.”

But Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary to the Congregation for Divine Worship, ruled out this possibility. He said the Roman liturgy “expresses the unity of the entire Church” and that while the 1998 version translated the 1975 Roman Missal a new Missal was introduced in 2002 thus making the 1998 edition outdated.