September 4, 2011
In 1963, the Second Vatican Council revised the Liturgy of the Western Rite or Roman Rite Church and affirmed the use of the “mother tongue” which we have called “the vernacular”. The council established a Latin Language text which was to the basis for every language group to work from, and the Council entrusted to each national conference of Bishops the right to oversee the translations which Rome would then approve. The English speaking Bishops of the world established an International Commission on English to begin the work. It took ten years to complete the work and have it all approved. Now keep in mind that English in South Africa, in India, New Zealand, Ireland, and especially Oklahoma is quite different making the work most challenging. The guiding principal for the translations was technically called: “dynamic equivalence” which simply means that the goal of the translation from the standard text in Latin was to come up with the overall sense and meaning of the text in the most modern English for each place. It is helpful to understand that this principal guiding translations was only used and applied for English. Other languages did not use this principal. They stayed more strictly and closer to the literal translation of the Latin.
Now we all know that language changes over time. The various words can take on new meanings never thought of a generation or two earlier. We can all think of examples of how new words come into our language and how other words simply begin to change meaning. Think of words like “cool”. For my grandmother, it was a description of temperature. Now it is an affirmation of value as well. Because of these changes over time in the meaning and use of words there is need to make adjustments from time to time re-examining how a translation passes on the original text.
We are living now through one of those times. In 1998 35 years after the first translations began the same International Commission using the same guidelines went to work to study the text and produce a more up-to-date translation. When the work was finished and sent to Rome, it was not approved, and there followed a serious re-thinking of the original idea of “dynamic equivalence”. In other words, should this commission be giving us what they think the Latin text should mean in English, or should the translation give us what the Latin text literally says when translated into English. Let me suggest a couple of examples of how “dynamic equivalent” works or doesn’t work. In Spanish people say: A Dios, and the dynamic equivalent in English could be “BYE BYE” or “See you later” but that really isn’t what it says. It is “sort of” what it means, but it isn’t what it says. Now translating A Dios into English by the new guidelines it would say: “To God” Another example: the French often says: A Bientot which some might think means: “Good bye” or “Farewell” when what it really says is: “Till later” which has a very different meaning since “Farewell” has a finality about it that is not intended. “Tell Later” says and implies that you are going to see one another again fairly soon.
Since 2002 work has been going on with this project, and it has been completed and approved. This will not be the last translation, or is it the final one. Some of us older folks remember other translations, and sometimes things will sound familiar. Such change is a part of growth and life. The English Speaking Bishops Conferences have established the First Sunday of Advent, November 27 as the time to begin; but for several reasons in this country we are going to begin using your parts prior to that time. Each parish will be free to choose when it will begin to do so, but it has been recommended that we do so before Advent so that that we will have become more accustomed to these new words and not distract ourselves with something new during the Holy Seasons of Advent and Christmas. For one example, the words of the Gloria are different. But since we do not sing the Gloria during Advent, the first time you would be expected to sing it would be at Midnight Mass on Christmas which obviously would be disturbing. So we are going to begin using your parts of the new translation now and my part will change with Advent.
One of the most interesting consequences of this new translation is that all the English Speaking Churches throughout the world will now be using the same translation. That was not the case with the first or1963 translation. Mass in India or South Africa or in New Zealand had different translations than we did. We will now all have and use the same translation where ever English is spoken. I suppose we could see that this is one more consequence of globalization. Our English language is becoming more and more unified as communication systems bring us all together. Now another consequence of this translation style is that there will be more words, because now every word in the original Latin prayer is translated into the English. The consequence is then: more verbal unity in the English Speaking church, more words, and more similarity to the translations of other language churches.
Changes for you will be few and simple. Changes for me on other hand will be quite a challenge, but that’s my challenge, and I have been practicing. You will have a card with your prayers and responses on it, and you will need to use it for awhile, but I suspect that in no time at all, they will disappear. Some of your texts will be simple and easy, and I suspect you will adjust without a thought. A couple of others will take more attention, and that is not a bad thing. We all know that rattling through memorized prayers for years and years often results in the prayer being said thoughtlessly and carelessly. So we have a chance to pay attention again to what we are saying and what we mean as we pray.
At the beginning of Mass in what we call the Introductory Rites, there comes the first of your changes. I will greet you with the words: “The Lord be with you.” and you will respond: “And With your Spirit.” Then when we move into what is now called; “The Penitential Act” there will remain several optional prayers chosen at the discretion of the priest. The prayer that begins: “I confess to almighty God…” will be slightly changed with, as I said earlier, more words that more literally translate the Latin. In the old translation we said: “that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words”….. Now you will say: “that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, therefore…..” This new translation speaks to the seriousness of our sin and the sincerity of our contrition. It offers a more humble way to collect ourselves before stepping any further into prayer.
The Gloria, that great hymn of praise that we sing with all the church will be quite different with new words – bringing into English all of the words in the universal text in the Latin. It will not be hard, but there will be new music.
The introductory rites conclude with a prayer sometimes oddly called: “The Opening Prayer.” It’s hard to tell if it’s opening the Mass which has already opened, or closing the Introductory Rite. In effect what it really does is move us from the Introduction and Penitential Act to the Liturgy of the Word. All of these prayers for every Sunday, every feast, and every special occasion have been re-translated. What you will notice is a very different kind of English: less folksy and more elevated or formal. It marks the dignity of the occasion and the place.
When it comes to the texts of Scripture, there will be no changes, and the next change in your text comes with the Preface opening the Eucharistic Prayer and the Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy. Next week, I will speak a little more about these changes, and we will take a little time to learn a new setting in the new translation of the Gloria and the Holy.
For now, let us begin: The Lord be with you……………….