More points about the new, corrected translation and update on matters like the Liturgy of the Hours

Some useful items from the newletter f the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship.   They deal with some points about the use of the new corrected translation. Sorry about the format.

In response to many questions from the body of Bishops both during and after the November 2011 USCCB plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, Committee Chairman, wrote to the Bishops on November 30, 2011 to provide some information and clarification on the use of the Roman Missal, Third Edition and its impact on the celebration of other liturgical rites.
While a more formal communication is expected in the near future from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS), the Committee on Divine Worship offers these observations to guide Bishops, pastors, and priest celebrants in the integration of the Roman Missal.

Adaptations to be Made

In conversation with the CDWDS, the Committee understands that the following adaptations are to be made to other liturgical rites in light of the Roman Missal:

? Every occurrence of “And with your spirit,” including, for example, the dialogue between the confirmand and the bishop in the Rite of Confirmation
? The Confiteor
? The prayer of the priest and the assembly at the invitation to Holy Communion (“Behold the Lamb of God” and “Lord, I am not worthy”)
? The dismissal at other rites
? The prayers of the deacon/priest in preparation to proclaim the Gospel

Suggested Adaptations

The Committee suggests that the following adaptations can be made to other liturgical rites in light of the Roman Missal, though these do not constitute obligations:

? The Blessing of Water and the renewal of Baptismal Promises at the celebration of Baptism can be taken from the Roman Missal.
? The Nuptial Blessing at the celebration of Marriage outside Mass can be taken from the Roman Missal. (Note that the Latin texts of the Nuptial Blessings have been modified, so the texts of the Nuptial Blessings in the Roman Missal are not merely re–translations.)
? In the Funeral Liturgy outside Mass, one can make use of the various collects found in the collection of Masses of the Dead
? In the Liturgy of the Hours (individually or communally), one can make use of the proper collects from the Roman Missal

Other Developments in Liturgical Rituals

Permission has been granted to republish Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest, substituting texts from the Missal where needed; no new recognitio is required. Until this text is available, the above–mentioned texts should be modified in light of the Missal. Note that the dialogue “The Lord be with you / And with your spirit” is only used by a priest or deacon, but not when a lay minister leads such a celebration.

A supplement containing the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children, modified to maintain consistency with the Roman Missal, is now available for purchase through USCCB Communications. There is no official word on the status of the revised Lectionary for Masses with Children, which was approved by the body of Bishops in 2006.

The Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary will soon be republished, substituting Missal texts where appropriate and adapting others (though there is no new translation of texts not in the Missal).

Resources for the blind or sight–impaired regarding the Roman Missal are available through the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD); their website is www.NCPD.org/romanmissal. Large–print (up to 44–point type) Missals for priests are available through the NCPD, and the Xavier Society for the Blind provides large print and Braille participation aids as well as a Braille Missal (for priests).

The Committee on Divine Worship is currently exploring options for some form of updated publication of the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Spanish translation of the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life (to be used on the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on January 22) has received the recognitio and is printed on page 45 of this issue of the Newsletter. It will also be distributed soon to diocesan worship offices and other parties.

An interim Roman Pontifical is currently in the final stages of preparation for publication. This ritual book will include the Rite of Confirmation, the Rites of Ordination (including the Admission to Candidacy and the Institution of Readers and Acolytes), the Rites for Blessing an Abbot or Abbess, the Consecration of Virgins, and the Rite for the Blessing of the Oils and Consecrating the Chrism. All of these will be the currently-approved editions, while incorporating updated orations and prefaces from the Roman Missal. The Rite for the Blessing of the Oils and Consecrating the Chrism will be the existing translation that was included in the old Sacramentary. The Pontifical will be available in time for use in Holy Week 2012.
USCCB Approves Proper Calendar Additions of Bl. Marianne Cope and Bl. John Paul II

Two liturgy action items were approved by the body of Bishops during the USCCB plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on November 14-16, 2011. The Bishops approved the inscription of Blessed Marianne Cope and Blessed John Paul II into the Proper Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America.
The inscription of Bl. Marianne Cope was approved by a vote of 216-2 with two abstentions. Although she died on August 9, 1918, her liturgical memorial is currently celebrated on January 23, the date of her birth in 1838. This discrepancy will be addressed by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments if and when her Optional Memorial is confirmed for the United States. In addition, while Latin and English editions of her liturgical texts were previously confirmed by the Holy See following her beatification in 2005, a Spanish translation had to be prepared for use in the United States. Those texts were approved, 215-1 with three abstentions. Bl. John Paul II’s inscription on the U.S. calendar for October 22 was approved by a vote of 216-3 with one abstention; his liturgical texts in a variety of languages were provided by the Holy See shortly before his beatification on May 1, 2011. These action items will be sent to the Congregation for the recognitio.

A third action item, the Rite for Blessing the Oil of Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick, and for Consecrating the Chrism, was withdrawn from the plenary meeting agenda; more information is provided in the meeting report of the Committee on Divine Worship on the next page of this issue.

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14 Comments

  1. APX says:

    Thanks for posting this. I was just wondering the other night if the Rite for the Consecration of Virgins was getting a revised translation as well.

  2. Adam Welp says:

    Ugh…I thought the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children were gone for good. I hope my Priest does not see this. I did not like that he used these EP’s and the EP’s for Reconciliation at every Mass for the first six months after he arrived. I guess I’ll never get to hear EP 1 in person again. :(

  3. josephx23 says:

    I’m glad to hear that we can start using the new Collects instead of the old, obsolete ones in the Liturgy of the Hours. New wine calls for new wineskins! It’s also exciting to hear that USCCB is working on a new edition, though I’ve heard that the official edition is still years away. If the new edition of the Missal and the majority of printed editions are any indication, Benedict XVI-style aggiornamento of the LOTH is going to be a vast improvement.

  4. Sid says:

    “The Committee on Divine Worship is currently exploring options for some form of updated publication of the Liturgy of the Hours.”

    I pray that this will be done soon. I pray a new edition would have as a minimum that the New Grail Translation of the Psalms is used, that when the collects are the same as in the Missal for the day that the new Missal’s translations are used, and that the remaining texts be translated as close to the Latin as possible.

    I would welcome in in a new edition of the Breviary the inclusion of the Latin hymns in translation. I currently use Martin D. O’Keefe, S.J., Exsultemus: Rejoicing With God In the Hymns of the Roman Breviary, which has a good and useful translation of these hymns.

    I would welcome in a new edition the inclusion the the two year cycle of Biblical readings, and an edition with the 2nd reading for the two year cycle (which doubtless would be an edition more than just four volumes). I currently us for the 2nd reading the Augustinian Press’ A Word In Season: Monastic Lectionary For The Divine Office, 10 volumes. There is on-line a two year Patristic Lectionary edited by Stephen Mark Holmes, which can be found an downloaded at the Centre for Catholic Studies.

    I would welcome an edition with chant for all the Hours, following the example of The Mundelein Psalter.

    And I would welcome an edition with Lent and Easter in different volumes.

  5. The EP for Children need to stay gone…EP II works just fine for that.

  6. Joe of St Thérèse says: The EP for Children need to stay gone…EP II works just fine for that.

    I’ll see you and raise you. There are far too many Eucharistic prayers, period. The proliferation of Eucharistic prayers in recent years made me uncertain whether the priest was using an approved one or just making up his own (not beyond the pale in our diocese). But worst of all for a missal-jockey like me, the vast array of Eucharistic prayers makes it that much harder to follow the Mass. By the time I figure out which one the priest is using, it’s half over.

    Which brings us to a serious drawback of the Mass of Paul VI: the fluidity and unpredictability of the Ordinary of the Mass, where one feels constantly buffeted by the zillions of different options that depend entirely on the pleasure of the priest. It increases my appreciation (and longing) for the Extraordinary Form, which only uses the Roman Canon, and where variations are entirely predictable as long as you know what day it is. In this day and age, this lack of choice is considered boring. I call it “stability.”

  7. xathar says:

    Any more information on why the prayers for the Oils were removed from consideration?

  8. Father G says:

    Two liturgy action items were approved by the body of Bishops during the USCCB plenary meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on November 14-16, 2011. The Bishops approved the inscription of Blessed Marianne Cope and Blessed John Paul II into the Proper Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America.

    Along with Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha on her way to being declared a saint, I am wondering if any of the companies that published the new Roman Missal will come out with an updated version that will include the two blesseds as well as make the change from Blessed Kateri to Saint Kateri.

  9. Chrysostom says:

    So glad to hear this! Thank you, Father!

    I was wondering about the breviary, and it would be wonderful if the Divine Office were to become as rich as the new translation of the Missal. However, if anyone knows, is there any plan afoot for a revision of the lectionary?

  10. letchitsa1 says:

    I suspected they would look at the Liturgy of the Hours and update the translation there as well, as it just makes good sense.

    And this makes a nice “I told you so” to a friend of mine who didn’t believe me when I said it was a matter of time…

  11. Elizabeth D says:

    Around the beginning of Advent I attended a talk by Abbot Marcel Rooney, retired abbot of Conception Abbey and former Abbot Primate of the OSBs, who is serving my diocese as a liturgical expert. He had recently met with Msgr Wadsworth and others. I asked if there was any news on a new translation of the Liturgy of the Hours. He said he had asked that himself and was told that they were tired and not eager to launch right into this other major project (he says he offered his own services). But that in the meantime there was discussion/plans of a supplement booklet for the LOTH with new translation texts that could be used together with the current breviary.

    There has never been any question that eventually there will be an update of the LOTH but it is not really likely to be soon.

  12. Elizabeth D says: But that in the meantime there was discussion/plans of a supplement booklet for the LOTH with new translation texts that could be used together with the current breviary.

    Well, that would be a start, and a welcome one. That would at least get us rid of the now-obsolete Collects that still live on as closing prayers in the Office. But sooner or later, something has got to be done about the dreadful rendition of the Psalms and Canticles and the pedestrian lingo in which everything else is couched.

  13. Emilio III says:

    Regarding translations of the Liturgy of the Hours, I suspect this will be a more difficult problem than translating the Missal. I have three versions: the American (Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975); the British (Collins, 2006); and the Spanish (http://www.almudi.org — iSilo format, 2011 — I was unable to find a print version). These are clearly not translations of the same original.

    The American version is the only one that includes the psalm prayers; the Spanish version is the only one with two cycles of first readings for Matins; the British version is the only with responsorial-form intercessions. It’s hard to believe that other languages don’t have similar variations. I think somebody needs to start asking just what do they think they’re translating…

  14. Sid says:

    Emilio III:

    Get the edition of the LOTH from the Pauline Sisters in Kenya. Theirs is the best current English translation.
    1. Published in 2009, it is current with saints up to 2009.
    2. It translates the latest Latin edition, and follows the order of that edition, except for hymns.
    3. It uses the Revised Grail Psalter, done I am told at Conception Abbey, MO.

    It has only two weaknesses.
    1. The older collects are still the bad 1970 ICEL translation. To amend this, just use the collect from the Missal. But for most of the saints added after 1975, the English is directly translated from the Latin in a beautiful periodus.
    2. The American Saints are not included. African saints are used.
    3. Hymns are modern.

    Order on line at paulinespublicationsafrica ; click “Liturgy of the Hours”. You will see immediately the four volume edition. The Prayer of the Church is the one vol. edition, missing the Office of Readings.

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