More priests and bishops say English Missal translation needs overhaul

Priests from Ireland and two bishops have become the latest to call for changes to the English translation of the Mass, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Ireland has called for a review of the current English Missal and for priests to be allowed to use the 1998 translation as a temporary solution.

They were responding to a posting on The Tablet blog by Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman of Erie, the former chairman of the United States bishops’ conference Committee on the Liturgy, who described the current Missal, introduced in November 2011, as a “failure”.

He also says that the 1998 translation, approved by English-speaking bishops but rejected by the Vatican, should replace the current version, backing a call made in a letter to The Tablet from the respected Jesuit theologian Fr Gerald O’Collins.

Fr Sean McDonagh, writing on the ACP website, said the group had pointed out to the Irish bishops before the translation appeared that it did not communicate with ordinary people.

Also this week, the retired Bishop of Palmerston North, New Zealand, writes in a letter to The Tablet that there should be an overhaul of the English Missal that critics say is clunky, awkward and a too literal translation of the Latin original. Bishop Peter J. Cullinane said, however, this would be pointless unless the current guidelines behind liturgical translations are changed. These were set out by the 2001 instruction Liturgiam Authenticam and said translations must convey the “integral manner” of the original Latin “even while being verbally or syntactically different from it”. 

Last week, Archbishop Arthur Roche, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said it would not be possible to use the 1998 translation.