TORONTO, Canada (The Catholic Register) – The outgoing president of the North American Academy of Liturgy and a leading Catholic liturgist has told The Catholic Register the most recent translation of the Roman Missal is “a step backwards” for ecumenical relations.
“It’s going to feel like the ecumenical movement has taken a hit,” Father Paul Turner, pastor of St. Munchin Church in Cameron, Mo., and author of a half-dozen books on Catholic liturgy, said following an opening liturgy for the North American Academy of Liturgy annual meeting here Jan. 4.
New, more literal, translations from Latin of liturgical texts scheduled to hit parishes in two years are a departure from the Second Vatican Council’s movement toward common texts with Anglican, Lutheran and other churches, Father Turner said. Those common texts were a specific goal of council fathers in the 1960s, and non-Catholic scholars were consulted by Catholic liturgists and translators in the past.
“That same effort is not being made today,” he said.
While Father Turner regrets the ecumenical implications of the new translations, he supports the new texts generally.
“The words will be an improvement as a whole,” he said.
Father Turner also warned that most dioceses in North America aren’t ready for the confusion and emotional reactions which will accompany a change in liturgy two years from now.
“Nobody’s ready,” said the priest-scholar, adding that dioceses will need to ramp up their catechetical and liturgical offices to be ready.
More than 400 scholars – Catholic, Protestant and Jewish – were here to exchange papers and discuss trends in liturgical studies for the North American Academy of Liturgy annual meeting.
The scholars’ work is often on the outer edges of how liturgy and culture interact, but it eventually becomes a part of good liturgy in parishes, Father Turner said.
“It’s critical for scholars to do this work,” he said.
The opening liturgy for the scholars remembered the lives of liturgical scholars who have died in the last year. It featured a jazz music presentation of the Book of Genesis.
As far as confusion and emotional response are concerned, I am certain nothing was more confusing and disheartening than what Catholics underwent in the 70's, when the Mass of All Ages was thrown out like yesterday's garbage. Nobody cared how they felt then. We're talking about a few MINOR changes today, nothing compared to the drastic level of change then, and NOW you're worried about how people will FEEL...
Kyle | 9/6/2009
I would say his assertion is baseless. The forthcoming Missal simply renders a more literal translation of the Latin text. The result is a liturgy that conforms to the original intention of the Second Vatican Council. For forty years, Catholics have had to endure watered-down liturgy, which in turn has led to watered-down faith. Many "innovations" have been foistered on the faithful in the "spirit of Vatican II." The Mass has lost its mysticism and sense of the Sacred. This is because many of the liturgical celebrations done "in the spirit of Vatican II" bear little resemblance to Catholic tradition. Hopefully, with the new missal, we will see a unity between the ordinary and extraordinary form of the Mass as the Council Fathers originally intended. The aging trendies have had their way for forty years. It is time to bring dignity and holiness back to the celebration of the Mass.
Kyle | 9/6/2009
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