Thursday, May 26, 2011

The preparation begins

The word is out.

After what seems to be a very long wait indeed, the long-anticipated revision to the Roman Missal (English edition) will finally be published later this year, and all indications are that it will be put into practice across this country by the first Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, priests in this diocese were present for a workshop during which the texts of the revised Roman Missal were presented.  Now the work begins.  During the next few months, we will need to help our parishioners to prepare for the use of this new text.  How that happens depends on the places we are assigned to, the resources we can call upon and the ingenuity with which we present the material.

A proper understanding of this implementation begins with an historical overview, and that takes us back to the Second Vatican Council, and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium.  This was the very first of the documents promulgated by the Council, and based upon its clarifications, work began in earnest to translate the texts of the Mass into languages other than Latin in order to provide for the celebration of the Mass in the languages of the people.

In the case of the English translation, this was completed in a four-year period, ending in 1972, and a book known as the Sacramentary was then published (the Canadian version appeared in 1974), but this version was intended to be temporary, until a complete study of the texts and a 'proper' translation was completed.  The original timeline for this project was five years (which would have seen it completed by 1980 at the latest, but then a number of factors caused further delay, and the result is that we are only now (in 2011) seeing the result of the translation.

Since there are 11 English-speaking nations in the world, representatives from each of these countries was invited to participate in the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, the Commission charged with the task of overseeing the translation of the Roman Missal.  Over the years, particularly since 2002, this work has involved consultation with all bishops from the eleven member nations, as well as the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, including the Vox Clara committee.

Final editions of the Editio typica terzia as it is known have been approved for England and Wales, as well as the United States of America.  The Canadian edition is still awaiting some recognizi but is scheduled for publication in early November, and preparations are now under way across the country for its implementation beginning with the first Sunday of Advent.

More to come on this subject too.

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