More on the new translation of the Roman Missal
  • BachLover2BachLover2
    Posts: 330
    Most of you probably don't remember this, but back in the 1960s, it was 'trendy' and 'hip' for priests to brag about not knowing Latin. You probably heard why Cardinal Cushing left the Council ... he claimed he didn't understand Latin. Well, these days I'm seeing some criticism of the new Mass translation ... because people say they cannot understand English! They complain and moan, "Oh, I couldn't understand the collect last Sunday," and on and on.

    Let me be very clear when I say that I am a person of average intelligence and I have no problem whatsoever understanding any of the Mass prayers in the MR3 ... and even if I did have trouble, you can bet your bottom dollar I wouldn't go on the internet and brag about my ignorance of the English language. I never thought I'd see the day ... what's next?
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen IanW
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    I just last week attended, for the first time, a Mass with the new translation. I found it underwhelming. Everything sounded much the same to me. I understood the collect better, though I think the priest may have been using the Alternate Collect.

    My biggest complaint is Eucharistic Prayer 2. The celebrant said it so quickly, and the language so much like legalese, that it sounded like disclaimers at the end of a radio commercial! Horrid. And though I'm glad they finally noticed "spiritu", I really don't like "and with yer spirit." But my (Episcopal) church is using Rite I for Lent, which makes the Roman translation sound so very pedestrian.

    High point was that the dialogue penitential rite was used, "Show us, Lord, your mercy..." If one ignores the broadway setting it was sung to, it actually sounds like church!

    Right or left, I came away thinking all this talk about it was much ado about nothing. It felt like nothing had changed.
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