I direct your attention to the Holy Father’s Letter to Catholics in Ireland. Last year Pope Benedict suggested to the Irish people that they give special attention to traditional forms of piety, prayer and penance.
Now we read that a group of Irish priests have issued a sustained whine about the new, corrected English translation of the Roman Missal.
From the Catholic Herald comes this.
Irish priests claim new Mass translation is ‘elitist and sexist’
By Sarah MacDonald
A group representing more than 400 of Ireland’s 4,500 priests has made an urgent plea to the country’s bishops to postpone the introduction of the new English translation of the Missal for at least another five years.
The call from the Association of Catholic Priests came as the National Centre for Liturgy in Maynooth launched a new publication aimed at explaining and preparing priests and lay people for the changes in the Missal. The new texts will be introduced on November 27, the first Sunday of Advent and the start of the liturgical year.
At a news conference in Dublin, representatives from the priests’ group said the proposed literal translations from Latin had produced texts that were “archaic, elitist and obscure and not in keeping with the natural rhythm, cadence and syntax of the English language”.
The association also criticised the new translation for “exclusivist, sexist language”. [Hmmm. I they actually used those words, then it is fairly safe to conclude that they are of a certain age and are not inclined to favor anything Pope Benedict proposes. Break out the tambourines and big-hair perms.]
Fr Dermot Lane, president of Mater Dei Institute of Education in Dublin, said the priests were making an 11th hour appeal to the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference and urged the bishops to begin consulting with priests, liturgical committees and lay people to develop new texts that would inspire and encourage the faithful.
“We are passionately concerned about the quality of our liturgical celebration and about the quality of the language that will be used in the way we worship Sunday after Sunday,” he said. “If this goes ahead, instead of drawing people into the liturgy, it will in fact draw people out from the liturgy.” [Rubbish. No one knows that. It will be the attitude of the priests as they implement this new translation that will make the difference. If these priests have problems with their flocks “because of the new translation”, it will because that is they they wanted it to turn out.]
The association said that it was “gravely concerned” that the “word-for-word translation from Latin into a vernacular language … demonstrates a lack of awareness of the insights gained from linguistics and anthropology during the past 100 years”. [It isn’t a “word for word” translation for one thing. I would like to quiz the priests who put their names to this thing and find out how many of them actually looked at prayers in the new translation. Any prayers. I am not even talking about comparing them side by side with the Latin. How many actually read the texts? I’ll wager very few. They are parroting the dissent of their pack-leaders.]
[…]
[Get this…] The priests’ association suggested that the Irish bishops follow the example of the German bishops and assert the right to make their own decisions regarding the celebration of the liturgy in Ireland. [There it is.]
Fr Gerard Alwill, pastor of a rural parish in the Diocese of Kilmore, said during the news conference: “We are saying very clearly that this new translation of the Missal is not acceptable… We are deeply concerned that if these new texts are imposed, they could create chaos in our church. [Sorry, but… who is creating the chaos?] Our Church doesn’t need chaos at this time. [I suggest to Fr. Alwill that his time would be better spent in reflection on the Holy Father’s Letter to Catholics in Ireland.]
“How can we, the priests, be asked to introduce this with any conviction when we ourselves haven’t had any input into it and when we have such serious doubts and reservations about it?” he added. [Interesting attitude: If I didn’t get to make it, I don’t want it. Ordained in the, say, 70’s?]
Fr Alwill called upon priests, parish pastoral councils, religious men and women and lay people to read the texts [there’s a start] and to raise any concerns they may have with their local bishop. [To what end? At this point all they are doing is fomenting discontent. Cui bono?]
A priest friend lately asked me about how to handle a biretta while in choir. This only the first time I have been asked about birettas in the last days. Therefore, I will repost some information I have shared before.
B on Daily Rome Shot 1116: “It just gets worse and worse. The Pope needs to publicly and very clearly put a halt to these shenanigans.…”
