Revisions to Catholic Mass Take Effect on Sunday

[He_Man]

I can’t help but notice that the posters here who are most critical of the new changes are Obama supporters.

It’s very obvious, and predictable.

Obama, a man with very little track record, says “Hope and Change,” and people lap it up.

The Church, with a staunch 2000 year history, makes a change more befitting the actual translation, and it is met with skepticism and doubt.

Weird.

Regardless, the change was made because every word of the Masss matters, and those words were not as accurate as they should be. Whether or not it “sounded better” or “more people liked it” were both irrelevant. People’s enjoyment or lack thereof of the new translation are merely anciallry to the real, more fundamental reasons for the change.

 

[Miriam1947]

What do you think large numbers of people did when the Mass was in Latin?

I have no idea. I’ve only been a Catholic for 3 years.

 

[AthenaC]

It’s very obvious, and predictable.

Obama, a man with very little track record, says “Hope and Change,” and people lap it up.

The Church, with a staunch 2000 year history, makes a change more befitting the actual translation, and it is met with skepticism and doubt.

Weird.

Regardless, the change was made because every word of the Masss matters, and those words were not as accurate as they should be. Whether or not it “sounded better” or “more people liked it” were both irrelevant. People’s enjoyment or lack thereof of the new translation are merely anciallry to the real, more fundamental reasons for the change.

FWIW, I am not an Obama supporter, and I don’t like the new translation. I like the way Alan articulates it, but if you are really interested, I am duking it out with someone over here. catholicview.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/and-with-your-spirit-the-new-beautiful-english-translation-of-the-roman-missal/

 

[CMatt25]

Huh? How on earth do criticisms of the revisions to the Missal have any connection whatsoever to Democratic politics? Completely irrelevant.

 

[incense]

I can’t help but notice that the posters here who are most critical of the new changes are Obama supporters.

You need to work on your observational skills.

 

[incense]

I hope you’re kidding. . .

I would suggest that if you have a St. Joseph’s Missal that you simply try reading the prayers at home to yourself until you ‘get the hang of them’. Or go online and read them there.

You don’t seriously mean that I should memorize all the prayers for the 4 year cycle?

The run-on sentences are not all that difficult. Probably you’ve been exposed more to Hemingway and “Tweeting’”, that’s all. (Not that either is bad, of course. I enjoy Hemingway and I have tweeted). But try reading James Joyce “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and Dickens’ “Bleak House” as well as Thackeray’s "Vanity Fair’ and I guarantee you won’t find the ‘run on’ sentences of the Mass to be nearly such a difficult concept.

Hemingway I’m guilty of, but not tweeting. But you are referring to reading. I am referring to listening. If you’re going to read during mass anyway, why do you care about the language used? You can just read and pretend it’s Latin or Spanish or whatever you want.

It really is simply a matter of becoming accustomed to something different.

That, I certainly hope is correct. Some parts I like, some I would if it was punctuated or the words grouped together better.

And save the rosary for after Mass or at Perpetual Adoration, not during Mass. The way to become accustomed to something new and different is to pay attention and get familiar with it, not to do something different and ignore it

.

Actually, I need apologize for my sarcasm. My elderly friends told me that praying the rosary during mass was common before the vernacular. So I was sarcastically referring to returning to the practice if I can no longer follow along well enough to pray along. At least I hope I was being sarcastic and not prophetic.

 

[St_Francis]

Sheesh, y’all are wimps–i was beginning to pray along in Old Church Slavonic within a month after after attending my first Divine Liturgy.

As to the elitism which seems to think that any adult who is not fully educated is incapable of understanding as well as those who are and we should therefore keep things simple…

Yes, it’s hard getting used to change. It’s hard to have elevated Language and intellectual challenge. But I think it’s great that the Church has given us this gift which will improve our understanding and thus bring us closer to God–if we let it.

In all things, give thanks to God… Deo Gratia!

 

[rlg94086]

Sheesh, y’all are wimps–i was beginning to pray along in Old Church Slavonic within a month after after attending my first Divine Liturgy.

As to the elitism which seems to think that any adult who is not fully educated is incapable of understanding as well as those who are and we should therefore keep things simple…

Yes, it’s hard getting used to change. It’s hard to have elevated Language and intellectual challenge. But I think it’s great that the Church has given us this gift which will improve our understanding and thus bring us closer to God–if we let it.

In all things, give thanks to God… Deo Gratia!

Yep. My kids picked up the Latin faster than I did. (We don’t go to an EF Mass…it’s a OF Mass with Latin for the common prayers - Kyrie (Greek), Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Pater Noster, Agnus Dei). …and, yes, for those of you who are thinking it, they know what the prayers mean.

 

[CorinneV]

I think the new translation is beautiful. As another forum member stated, above, I was also in grade school when the very first vernacular Mass parts were being taught, and the new translation is very close to that early vernacular.

I especially love the response before Communion, “Lord, I am not worthy…” When we made our First Communion, the Mass was still all Latin. But our First Communion class recited that response in English prior to receiving. I always thought that “I am not worthy to receive Thee” didn’t sound right. The new translation is much closer to the words of the centurion in the gospel, which is a beautiful passage.

As for “Run-on sentences,” I notice that many epistle readings include sentences that are a paragraph long. A long, clause-filled sentence can be necessary in order best to express a complex concept.

I believe that it is more important to preserve tradition by striving to create the most accurate translation possible of the ancient or very old Latin words.