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Use of new Roman Missal to begin at Advent 2011

Nancy Frazier O'brien | Catholic News Service

Parishes in the U.S. will begin using the new English translation of the Roman Missal during Advent 2011.

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WASHINGTON – Catholics in the United States will begin using
the long-awaited English translation of the Roman Missal on
the first Sunday of Advent in 2011, Cardinal Francis E.
George of Chicago said Aug. 20.

The cardinal’s announcement as president of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops marks the formal beginning of
a more than 15-month period of education and training leading
to the first use of the “third typical edition” of the Roman
Missal at English-language Masses in the United States on
Nov. 27, 2011.

The missal, announced by Pope John Paul II in 2000 and first
published in Latin in 2002, has undergone a lengthy and
rigorous translation process through the International
Commission on English in the Liturgy, followed by sometimes
heated discussions over particular wording at USCCB general
assemblies during much of the past decade.

The USCCB said April 30 that the Vatican has given its
“recognitio,” or confirmation, of the new English translation
of the missal, but final editing by Vatican officials was
continuing at that time.

In a decree of proclamation sent to the U.S. bishops Aug. 20,
Cardinal George said, “The use of the third edition of the
Roman Missal enters into use in the dioceses of the United
States of America as of the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27,
2011. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman
Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of
America.”

He added that the U.S. Catholic Church “can now move forward
and continue with our important catechetical efforts as we
prepare the text for publication.”

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of
the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, expressed gratitude
about the final Vatican approval.

“I am happy that after years of preparation, we now have a
text that, when introduced late next year, will enable the
ongoing renewal of the celebration of the sacred liturgy in
our parishes,” he said.

The changes to be implemented in late 2011 include new
responses by the people in about a dozen sections of the
Mass, although changes in the words used by the celebrant are
much more extensive.

At several points during the Mass, for example, when the
celebrant says, “The Lord be with you,” the people will
respond, in a more faithful translation of the original
Latin, “And with your spirit.”

The current response, “And also with you,” was “not meant as
‘you too’ or something like ‘back at you,'” Father Richard
Hilgartner, associate director of the USCCB Secretariat of
Divine Worship, told Catholic News Service. Rather it is “an
invocation to the priest as he celebrates the Mass, a
reminder that he is not acting on his own, but in the person
of Christ” – a distinction that the new language will
highlight, he said.

“The order and structure of the Mass will not change at all,”
he added, but Catholics will see some new texts for prayers,
new observances for saints added to the church calendar in
recent decades and such additions as a Mass in thanksgiving
for the gift of human life and an extended vigil for
Pentecost, similar to the Easter Vigil.

Since mid-April, Msgr. Anthony Sherman, director of the USCCB
divine worship secretariat, and Father Hilgartner have been
conducting workshops around the country for priests and
diocesan leaders on implementation of the new missal. The
workshops will continue into November.

Msgr. Sherman said participants often tell him that they had
seen introducing the new missal as “an absolutely impossible
task” before the workshop but said afterward, “I think I can
actually do this,” especially because of the wealth of
resource materials that will be available to them.

The USCCB has prepared a parish implementation guide that
includes a detailed timeline, bulletin inserts, suggestions
for homilies and adult education classes on the liturgy and a
wide variety of other resources. Audio, visual and print
resources for priests, liturgical musicians and laypeople
also are available now or in the works.

Sister Janet Baxendale, a Sister of Charity of New York who
teaches liturgy at St. Joseph Seminary in Dunwoodie, N.Y.,
and its Institute of Religious Studies, is a consultant to
the bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship. She said the new
translation has been needed for a long time.

When the Second Vatican Council endorsed a new missal and
permitted Catholics around the world to begin celebrating
Mass in their local languages, the translation work that
followed “was at its best a rush job,” she said. The
Vatican’s translation principles at the time also favored “a
looser construction, with the thought that in this way it
could be adapted to various people more readily,” she added.

“As time went on, it became evident that … in many
instances, the richness and power of the Latin text didn’t
really come through,” Sister Janet said. “This was true of
all the translations, not just the English.”

The new translation offers “more poetic texts, more beautiful
texts,” she said.

Father Hilgartner said Pope Benedict XVI has placed his own
personal stamp on the liturgical changes by adding two new
options for the dismissal prayer at the end of Mass,
emphasizing the “connection between the Mass and living the
Christian life.”

In place of the current “The Mass is ended, go in peace,”
celebrants will be able to choose from four options,
including the pope’s suggestions – “Go and announce the
Gospel of the Lord” and “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by
your life.”

There has been a lot of enthusiasm at the workshops for those
added texts – “an audible kind of ‘oooh,'” Father Hilgartner
said. “There’s a reaction of some awe and enthusiasm for just
these two phrases, and I think that’s worth getting excited
about.”

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