OCP's Take...
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    From the OCP Site...

    Wouldn’t it be easier if the whole world used only Latin for the Mass?

    That might seem to be the easiest answer to the whole matter of translations! However, the Church has a mandate to consider the vernacular, i.e., the common/shared language of the people in a country or region.

    The Council Fathers of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) directed in their Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), 36:
    These norms being observed, it is for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority…to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used; their decrees are to be approved, that is, confirmed, by the Apostolic See. And, whenever it seems to be called for, this authority is to consult with bishops of neighboring regions which have the same language.

    Translations from the Latin text into the mother tongue intended for use in the liturgy must be approved by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned above.
  • tdunbar
    Posts: 120
    it's common for even rather "liberal" RCIA programs to stress "the Mass is the same everywhere, you can go to..." as an indication of unity. Of course, more than a few Americans are also unaware that not everyone speaks American, or even calls it that.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    a mandate to consider? That is really different from a mandate to adopt a particular path.
  • rollingrj
    Posts: 344
    "Wouldn’t it be easier if the whole world used only Latin for the Mass?"

    Taken at face value, the answer would be "yes."

    "That might seem to be the easiest answer to the whole matter of translations!"

    To me, that sounds like a backhanded disapproval of the new English translations.
  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    The real question is, what is "it"? WHAT would be easier?
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