President of France's Episcopal Commission for Liturgy and Sacramental Pastoral Care, Bishop Buy de Kerimel told La Croix that it changes very little for the people.

Kerimel said the changes were more significant for the priests.

Acknowledging that liturgy is 'always' a sensitive point, Kerimel suggested it is most likely that everyone will not be fully satisfied by the new translation.

Kerimel acknowledged the process to get the approval had been lengthy.

It began in 2002 as a response to Liturgical authenticam during Pope John Paul II's pontificate, he said.

Kerimel said there had been many round trips to Rome, but progress became more real with Pope Francis' 2017 moto proprio "Magnum principium".

Magnum principium "gave back a flexibility to the translation, according to a triple fidelity: fidelity to the Latin text, fidelity to the language of translation and fidelity to the understanding of the faithful", Kerimel told La Croix.

"This allowed us to adjust the translation", he said.

He acknowledged the need for significant work to help get the new Mass translation received.

Kerimel said the final text was sent to Rome last September and the return was quick.

The Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, signed the decree of confirmation on October 1.

Kerimel said all the work would be worth it if it helps the Church in France understand what it is communicating, and it allows the Church to rediscover the meaning of the Eucharistic liturgy.

He acknowledges that it is difficult to articulate the mystery of God using words.

The new translation should be ready for implementation in Advent 2020 and become definitive from May 24, 2021, the memorial of Mary, mother of the Church.

The completed English translation received the approval of the Holy See in April 2010 and was put into effect in most countries at the end of November 2011.

Source

• La-Croix

"New words, deeper meaning, same Mass."

Initially prepared to go with the flow, after a little while I found the cognitive dissonance became too apparent.

What we got were old words with foreign meanings and a Mass that somehow changed my expression of faith.

‘Thumbs up' then to Bishop Drennan, secretary of the New Zealand Bishop's Conference, for his piece in Wel-com, and collectively to the Conference, for their encouragement of Rome to overcome the clunky, awkward new translation.

Of particular mention, ‘two thumbs up' to Bishop Campbell who, when global liturgical ‘group think' was at its peak, swam publicly against the tide, risked a 'rap over the knuckles' from the then pope and criticised the new translation.

Disappointed, Bishop Campbell not only questioned the outcome of the new translation but also its delivery process and, from memory, he warned the ‘new translation' would not be the endpoint.

Importance of language

Sociolinguistics is the study of language and culture; it views language as intrinsic to communication.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity states the structure of a culture's language determines the behaviour, habits and thinking of that culture.

Thus, language forms a culture through the realities embedded in it.

"Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood. We are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for our society.

"We see, hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation." (Benjamin Whorf: Language, Thought, and Reality, p 134.)

Some describe the new translation as beautiful, but it is not the kind of developed world beauty people speak to me about; it doesn't talk about the reality of the cultural setting of antipodean life.

It seems to me the language of the new translation, of exclusivity, archaic vocabulary; "dewfall," "consubstantial," "oblation," and the over-inflated language of prayer; "graciously hear," "graciously grant", "holy and unblemished" and, "and with your spirit," belong to a time long past.

These and other similar phrases may have deep meaning, they may be accurate translations of the Latin, but so what?

Language is a living tradition, it's meant to be readily understood and used, and if the language of the liturgy needs sermons and articles in periodicals to interpret various phrases, haven't we lost the point?

Global and local

I find it sad that a global initiative, which included Bishops Denis Browne and Peter Cullinane, started out to positively address such issues as sexism in liturgical texts but, through no fault of theirs, it got diverted into a mash-up of old and new.

For many, the new translation never really hit the mark and probably never really helped shape us as Catholics in the 21st Century.

So I, for one, welcome Bishop Drennan saying that a better translation of the Mass is possible.

Seemingly under a little pressure to move, I also hear his plea for patience, but I welcome people putting pressure on the bishops for change because it shows interest and involvement in their faith.

A potentially huge task

As the song goes, "Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start".

I'd note that the global initiative before the new translation, started at the beginning and had input from specialists in pastoral liturgy, languages etc.

It took decades to formulate.

So I wonder if there is a need to go back to the beginning; to as it were, 'recreate the wheel' when the translation that met with almost universal approval, still exists?

• The Sacramentary: Volume One Part 1
  
• The Sacramentary: Volume One Part 2
  
• The Sacramentary: Volume Two Part 1
  
• The Sacramentary: Volume Two Part 2

Thankfully now, with a change in Canon Law, Pope Francis has shifted primary responsibility for liturgical texts to each diocesan bishop. However, Bishop Drennan's comments suggest the New Zealand Bishops, at least, will work as a conference on the new text.

Hopefully, this will make things more simple, but, it may not!

For example, many years prior to the 'new translation', the Christchurch diocese used a different version of the "Our Father", so it was possible then and now more possible for a diocesan bishop to allow e.g. different versions of prayers, and different congregational responses.

Yes, that means there may be different prayers and different responses in dioceses within a country, around the world, and in language groupings.

There are times when I'm sure being a bishop must be a thankless task. However, on this one I think we can be proud of our bishops, for like no others they've knocked on Rome's door expressing our frustrations with the current translation.

To use Pope Francis' expression, they are shepherds living with 'the smell of the sheep'.

• After postgraduate communications study at Victoria University Wellington, Fr John Murphy SM works in new media.

Fr Gerald O'Collins, SJ, made the call at a gathering of Auckland priests at Waipuna Lodge in Mt Wellington on August 24. Continue reading in NZ Catholic

This is the finding of a survey of clergy views carried out by the Association of Catholic Clergy (ACP) in Ireland.

The survey also showed a significant percentage of priests still use texts from a 1973 missal.

Views were taken from 191 priests, who were randomly selected from the alphabetical listing of clergy in Ireland.

The survey was taken between March 31 and April 11.

It shows 35 per cent of priests surveyed favour replacing the current translation immediately and 45 per cent "as soon as a revised missal becomes available".

Close to two thirds of those surveyed said they were either dissatisfied (33.5 per cent) or very dissatisfied (27.2 per cent) with the missal.

This compared with just a quarter who were either very satisfied (4.7 per cent) or satisfied (19.9 per cent).

Even among those who were satisfied, more than half wanted to see a revised missal within a few years.

Some 147 respondents said they used texts from the new missal exclusively, 32 used a combination of texts from the new missal and a 1973 missal, while ten priests used text solely from the latter.

The findings of the survey were presented to three Irish bishops.

The ACP asked the bishops to encourage parish councils to express their views on the missal and, if possible, to survey those views.

Fr Sean McDonagh, SSC, a linguist who attended a meeting between the ACP and the bishops, said one bishop expressed surprise at the survey findings.

Fr McDonagh called on bishops in England and Wales to conduct a similar survey among their priests and people

The full text in English of the new translation of the Mass was introduced in Advent, 2011.

Before and during its implementation there were complaints from clergy and laity that the translation was too literal, with antiquated words and over-long sentences.

The new missal was translated according to Liturgiam Authenticam, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2001.

This called for a more direct translation from the Latin to vernacular languages.

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Journal
• Association of Catholic Priests (survey)
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Mullingar Parish

The head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has said the bishops cannot do that because mercy is not a valid principle to use in pastoral care where the sacrament is concerned.

Doctrine? Maybe. Faith? Not so much.

In any case, the bishops are going ahead with their plan. They are affirming what Pope Francis has said, that Roman officials do not "outrank" diocesan bishops, but must serve as aids to the bishops' ministry.

The Germans have recently made another move in defiance of Roman commands that deserves attention and belated emulation.

The First Sunday of Advent, was to be the day on which German-speaking Catholics would begin using a new translation of the liturgy. Like the one that has been used for two years in English-speaking churches, it would be more Latin than local.

The English version uses English words in Latin sentence order, Latinate repetition and vocabulary that comes from Latin rather than English roots; presumably the German is similar.

However, the German bishops recently announced that they would not introduce the new version because of wide opposition to the translation's sins against the German language.

Something that English-speaking bishops were afraid to do in the previous papacy is now being done by Germans apparently emboldened by the pastoral approach of Pope Francis.

The new translation two years on

Sunday was the second anniversary of the imposition of the English version.

How have we fared after two years with it?

Congregations have gotten used to their responses, though children probably sometimes think that the Holy, Holy, Holy prayer is to the Lord God of communion wafers.

But what of those for whom the greatest changes were introduced, the priests?

Surveys have shown that a huge majority of priests are still, after two years, united in their dissatisfaction with the maltranslation.

Many say that trying to use it actually hinders their prayerful leading of the liturgy.

If anything, their discomfort has grown as they have struggled to proclaim prayers whose tortured word order and repetitions are close to gibberish if spoken aloud before a congregation that cannot go back over the words to figure out the grammar.

How does one proclaim a sentence that begins with the object of the verb rather than the subject, something entirely possible in Latin, but which English-speaking priests now know is at least strange in their language?

Rewriting to make sense of it

The answer is that increasingly priests are not trying.

A pastor in the United States said that the only good thing he could say about the new translation is that it forces him to read the prayers on Saturday so that he will know how to revise them for proclamation on Sunday.

The majority of priests in his diocese admit among themselves that they engage in the same editing process, turning the prayers into real English. In other words, many congregations do not hear the new version.

Two years ago I wrote: "Priests who want to help their communities pray will gradually, but increasingly, begin to rework and reword the translation we have been given.

Instead of an authorized new translation from Latin such as was approved by the world's English-speaking bishops in 1998, we will now get an unauthorized plethora of ad hoc translations from Gibberish. I am not saying that should happen, but it shall happen."

Well, it has happened. What's next?

Time to implement the 1998 version, officially or unnofficially

The 1998 translation that was meant to correct the hastily done 1973 translation has already been approved unanimously by all the English-speaking bishops' conferences of the world, but was suppressed by curial officials who were not even English speakers.

So, why should not some conferences declare that translation valid for use in their countries? Failing that, individual bishops might take that initiative on their authority as leaders of worship in their dioceses.

Otherwise, my next prediction will come true.

Priests will increasingly on their own initiative begin using the 1998 translation once they get a copy, available for downloading after only a few minutes' search on the Internet.

Or, they will dig out their 1973 Sacramentaries, even in dioceses like that in which my friend the pastor serves and where the bishop thought he had confiscated them all in order to prevent just that sort of thing.

It is time for English-speaking bishops to learn from their German confreres and take back responsibility for the life and worship of their people.

Fr William Grimm is publisher of ucanews.com based in Tokyo.

Image: ucanews.com

John Main says, "Language may not be able to lead us into the ultimate communion but it is the atmosphere in which we first draw breath of consciousness."

I have spent more than fifty years acquiring language - a spiritual language, that is, not my native tongue - and suddenly it all seems a facade. It is empty, superfluous, 'white noise'. Don't get me wrong. I find the etymology, the lexicon of religion and spirituality fascinating.

For most of my life, I have listened to those more theologically literate, more erudite, with higher levels of education. I have hungrily devoured their definitions; their explanations; their theology. I have read voraciously. I am deeply indebted, and very grateful, to all who shared with me.

But I was short-changed.

What was offered, while encapsulating the Truth, presented as literal that which can only be revealed through metaphor, allegory, experience, art and silence. Ideas and practices presented as permanent, unchanging, infallible, embedded, I now see are transient, fluid, organic, responsive, reactive.

Consider the latest English translation of the Mass. I always considered the words and actions at the epiclesis and consecration as intrinsic to the transformation from bread and wine to Body and Blood. Those who love the Latin translation of the Mass probably thought the same. But the words keep changing. So the language becomes almost inconsequential, irrelevant. Whatever words we recite; whatever actions we make - it is that which is revealed that is important.

For me, now, that revelation is that God took human form. God is revealed in the actions and attitudes of human beings. God is creative and creator and is revealed in creation. God loves unconditionally and abundantly. I am known. I am loved. I am not alone. And this empowers and inspires me.

Scripture is rich in metaphor, myth, allegory, poetry. We learn about metaphor in English classes at school - but not a whiff is discussed in Religious Education. None of the names we give the divine are literal. God is not an eagle or a nursing mother or our father. These are metaphors to describe the indescribable - a divine presence so 'other' and so 'in-dwelling' that language can only hint at it.

I do not know if I was deliberately shaped, formed or taught in a certain way that kept me obedient, unquestioning, faithful. I do believe, however, that there is now a paradigm shift to acknowledge and name and embrace what has always been true: God is encountered and experienced in an infinite number of ways to ALL people - baptised or not; practising in an institutional church or not; religious or not. Artists, poets, storytellers, dancers, and musicians have always known this. Ecologists, feminists, and peace activists have always known this.

God can be experienced, but not entrapped in ideologies and dogmas. The language for God, and of God, has evolved. 
God can be encountered, but not explained. The language to describe God is now holistic and experiential. 
God exists outside of time and culture and language and is not constrained by these human constructs. The language reflecting God to us is the language of belonging and of relationship.

No-one has a stranglehold on God. Thank God.

And so I begin again …

Liz Pearce, mother of 3 adult children, loves story, dollmaking, writing and silence.

The book is about how to achieve real participation and engagement in liturgy.

People who want to find creative solutions to the tension between the needs of the their local church and the official liturgical books will find this book useful.

It is a resource for planning and leading liturgies in parishes and communities.

The authors hope to promote informed discussion and to support those who want to make adaptations and changes so that the liturgy will reflect the culture and people who celebrate it.

Themes include: Eucharist for our time & context; shared leadership & ministry in Eucharist, local spirituality and Eucharist, Eucharist that builds an inclusive church and, overcoming the tensions of planning & celebration.

The authors, Neil Darragh and Jo Ayers, well known in Catholic circles in New Zealand, bring together their experience of teaching liturgy at university and of many years membership of local liturgy committees. They provide differing perspectives and experiences of a layperson and a priest.

Accent is niche publisher that concentrates exclusively on publishing spirituality and theology from Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Accent's intention is to be a resource for people who want to talk about and search out mature responses to the major issues of Christian life in the 21^st Century.

Accent's publications are written by people who live Aotearoa New Zealand .

Accent is interested in establishing a dialogue with others who like them want to create a contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand spirituality.

Source

• Accent Publications
• Image: Pangeablog

If you are a regular Mass-goer, you are probably no longer stumbling over 'Lord I am not worthy to receive you under my roof ...'. You now mumble, 'And with your spirit' in the same reflex, slightly absent minded-way you used to say, 'And also with you'; and you are now used to hearing 'For many ...' where once you heard 'For all' without it striking you as odd.

There's always a certain refreshment in any new translation of a familiar text, just as any new telling of an old story - even a clumsy new version - throws light on a previously neglected episode or character.

In a really successful new translation, the original is brought alive for a new audience with new force and power. In a bad translation, what was clear and elegant becomes muddled and flat-footed, and what was exciting and dramatic becomes colourless and prosaic.

No one seems to have been entirely happy with the process of arriving at the new text for the Mass, and irritation at feeling that it was foisted on us without proper consultation may have clouded our initial judgement of the new translation.

But now that we've been living with it for a year or more, perhaps this is a good time to ask Catholics whether or not the new translation has freshened and deepened their understanding of the extraordinary things that we are celebrating and remembering Mass.

The London Tablet is asking New Zealanders and people throughout English-speaking world to take a survey about their experience of the new English translation. What do you think? Have your say in the Tablet's survey.

Befitting a translation that despite papal calls for opposition to "relativism" begins the Church year by slavishly following Latin word order to pray that "as we walk amid passing things, you teach us by them to love the things of heaven," it ends the year with a 93-word sentence in the Preface. Since the norm in modern English is to speak sentences in a single breath or two, oxygen tanks and oils for anointing the dying may become standard liturgical accoutrements to mark the end of the Church year.

Priests fearful

Lately, I have been asking English-speaking priests about their experience of using the Missal for a year. Just about all admit to editing the texts to make them more comprehensible and more easily proclaimed, since the Missal itself declares that "the primary purpose of the translation of the texts is not for meditation, but rather for their proclamation or singing during an actual celebration."

However, those priests also admit that they are fearful of doing very much because of what they call "the temple police," people who go to Mass not to join their fellow Catholics in worship, but to nose out "crimes" they can report to the Vatican or (as a seeming second choice) the local bishop.

Lay complaints and contempt

Laypeople have complained about their prayers and the wordy incomprehensibility of the priest's prayers, and I have yet to be at a Mass where "Lord, I am not worthy" has not turned into a mumbled jumble.

A year's worth of familiarity has bred increasing contempt for the translation and for those who have imposed it upon the People of God.

Though no one to whom I have spoken personally has admitted to liking the Missal, one priest did mention that he knew a cleric who claims to favor the new translation. He added, though, that everything the man says and does is calculated to advance his goal of one day being a bishop.

Earlier in the year, a priest writing in the English Catholic journal The Tablet asked, "How do we priests recover our enthusiasm for celebrating the liturgy?" Good question.

Personally, every time I "celebrate" Mass in the new form, I am reminded once again of the high-handed chicanery that produced the translation in spite of there already being a generally acclaimed new translation that had been unanimously approved by the English-speaking bishops of the world in 1998. It gives a painful depth of meaning to the phrase "distractions at prayer." Mass has become a cross.

In the year that we obedient ones have endured being forced to "proclaim" Latinate gibberish, the pope continued to woo ultra-traditionalists with promises that they can celebrate the liturgy in whatever form they choose.

Well, Your Holiness, what about the rest of us? If we were to start refusing to use the Missal, could we expect the same solicitude that you are giving the disobedient ones? Or, would our predisposition to obedience be used as a weapon against us?

Judging from the treatment of ultra-traditionalists, there seems to be no other way to be heard.

Originally appeared in ucanews.com

- Fr Bill Grimm is a Maryknoll priest working in Japan. He is the publisher of ucanews.com

The waiata workshop will include chanting, singing, group participation and questions.

On Sunday there will be an opportunity to put it all into action at Miha at Te Ngakau Tapu Parish with Richard and his support crew.

Richard is the composer of that world famous in Aotearoa waiata - Ka Waiata ki a Maria. Heard all throughout the motu, at many marae, ahakoa he aha te whakapono. He's the Principal of St Joseph's School in Wairoa. He's part of Tawhiti-a-Maru marae. He's a member of Te Runanga o te Hahi Katorika ki Aotearoa (The Maori Catholic Pastoral Council of NZ). He's Chairperson of the Maori Apostolate of the Palmerston North Diocese. He's many things. He tangata tino hatakehi ia. So those who attend can expect to have some fun.

The workshop results from the fact that the first version of music for the new Miha didn't really go down well with Maori and the Bishops asked the Runanga for help.

Source

• N Phillips - Turagna Maori Whanganui a Tara
• Image: Welcom

Having been made aware of the fact that a spiral bound version of the new missal has been published by the Catholic Publications Centre (CPC), similar to the one in common use before the new official missal was published, the Bishops' Conference has once again stated that only the officially approved missal is to be used.

In his most recent newsletter to parish priests and church leaders the Archbishop of Wellington, John Dew, said, "Besides the fact that CPC do not have the copyright from ICEL to print these other Missals, they have also provided these contrary to the wishes and the instruction of the Bishops Conference."

Archbishop Dew said that the Bishops' Conference agreed that nothing was to be used other than the officially approved new missal. "Therefore, please note that in the Archdiocese the only Missal to be used is the formally approved Missal which came into use on 24th April."

"All Parish Churches and Mass Centres where Masses are celebrated regularly in the Archdiocese should have a copy of the Missal and Companion," he said.

Archbishop Dew said that if any one finds the purchase of the approved new missal to be a financial burden, they could contact him.

The Archbishop also suggested another smaller, more portable publication as being suitable for private use.

Source

• The Archdiocese of Wellington

Benedict's message, in German, was delivered to once and for all end a reportedly underground dispute amongst Germany's bishops.

On the weekend, Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, confirmed Benedict's statement on Vatican Radio.

"There is no doubt that Jesus died so that everyone might be saved. This, along with the profound significance of the words that are used for the institution of the Eucharist, should be explained to the faithful through the use of solid catechesis," he said.

Indeed, "The words which are used for the institution of the Eucharist are fundamentally important for Pope Benedict, because these words lie at the heart of the Church."

"By saying 'for many,' Jesus is saying that he is the Servant of Yahweh who was foretold by the prophet Isaiah."

"When we say 'for many,' therefore, we both express our fidelity to the word of Jesus, and recognize Jesus' fidelity to the words of the Scripture."

This question - Lombardi stressed - is of "profound theological and spiritual significance" to all Christians.

"When the Lord offers himself 'for you and for many, we become directly involved and, in gratitude, we take on the responsibility for the salvation which is promised to everyone," Lombardi explained.

Source

• Vatican Insider
• Image: The Australian

The Pope said he was writing "to avoid a split" in the Church after Zollitsch told him during a March visit that "the bishops in the German-speaking world were still divided on this issue". Continue reading

"There are some critics of the new translation," he says "let's prayerfully keep a perspective on the changes and an open mind that this is, as we have been saying for a long time, 'New words, deeper meaning, same Mass.' We will discover a 'deeper meaning' only when we give ourselves a fair go and approach these words prayerfully."

The full text of Archbishop Dew's Letter to Parish Priests, Lay Leaders and School Principals:

It is not only the new road rules which come into effect this Sunday, this is also the day when the Revised Roman Missal becomes the official text for all Masses celebrated in New Zealand.

There has been a great deal of ink spilled, emails written and words spoken, over the new English translation of the Mass, that is, the new edition of the Roman Missal, which will become the only approved text to be used in New Zealand as from this Sunday. There have been many discussions surrounding the new translations and the process that led to their approval. Depending on who you read — it's a beautiful translation that preserves the majesty of the original Latin; or it's not much of a change at all; or it's an overly literal translation that sounds awkward and clumsy.

It's probably unfair to judge until a few months have passed, and the priests and people have had the chance to hear and speak and pray with the changes. Over 12 months ago people were confused and upset over the change from "and also with you" to "and with your spirit." But people seem to have become used to that now, and are appreciating the biblical source of that phrase. Now some are concerned about the translation of the Our Father we will use at Mass - at all English Masses around the world.

As one priest wrote "This is still the Mass: We are still celebrating Christ who is in our midst... We must not let anything get in the way of that." We remember that we are coming together as one people to pray as Jesus taught us.

Many of the prayers are different, it will take us some time to become used to them, but the Church's prayer and Liturgy is never about our personal preference, but about what Christ is doing for us. As many priests will tell you, it takes a while to move from saying the prayers of the Mass to praying them. From feeling like you are performing to praying with the congregation. And at some point I know we will feel comfortable with the new English translation.

There are some critics of the new translation; let's prayerfully keep a perspective on the changes and an open mind that this is as we have been saying for a long time "New words, deeper meaning, same Mass." We will discover a "deeper meaning" only when we give ourselves a fair go and approach these words prayerfully.

One of the things I would encourage Clergy, Lay Pastoral Leaders, and teachers in our schools to do is to read and become familiar with the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM) which is at the beginning of the Missal. The GIRM gives the principles and guidelines for our liturgies, which when prayed with and reflected on, will enable us to lead people in prayerful and well celebrated Liturgies.

Source

• Archdiocese of Wellington
• Image: National Liturgy Office

Last Sunday, I celebrated Mass in a semi-private setting. Before going public, I wanted to try out the new translation of the Mass using our brand new Missal.

This was the first time the congregation and I had used the complete new translation and our new Missal, and afterwards, my effort, our reactions to the language and the navigation through the new book were all topics of discussion.

Some people, those who are having to defend the translation, are saying it's poetic. Well that may be their definition of poetry, but let's just say it's a long way from William Blake, and, while three English scholars in my midst all agreed "it's just not English", we were similarly of the view it's what we've got and those that make these decisions have decided that this is what we should use. Time to move on.

However, what the people who translated the new Missal didn't do, was decide how the new English translation should look. They didn't decide the layout of the New Zealand edition of the Missal.

Given the first effort was rejected, I can only but imagine what it might have looked like.

I'd suggest this edition still has layout issues. Among them

• page turns in awkward places
• the capitalisation of the words of consecration, making them almost impossible to read, and
• some of the text is so closely aligned to the gutter of the book, that standing in a normal upright position makes it also almost impossible to read e.g. the Prayer of the Gifts on the 4th Sunday of Lent.

Negotiating the new text is one thing, negotiating poor formatting is another.

If this were a normal book, I'd be tempted to return it.

After my Sunday experience, I chatted with other priests who like me have tried-out the new New Zealand Missal.

Alas, they reinforced my view; one going as far as saying his experience was "dreadful", and another, "forget the words, the layout is all over the place."

Where to from here?

I'm fortunate enough to have an iPad, and for some time have had the Universalis App.

This week, Universalis released a new free upgrade and with it came a feature "Mass Today".

My initial reaction, it's fantastic.

Some of its features include the ability to:

• select the New Zealand liturgical calendar
• make the font size either smaller or larger
• select "Mass Today" and you get the whole Mass from the Sign of the Cross through to the Dismissal, including readings and your choice of Preface and ten Eucharistic Prayers.
• take it with you in portable form.

Universalis on the iPad is not without its issues:

• some of the pagination still interrupts the flow a little, (but because you don't have to turn the page as often, this inconvenience is minimised)
• it's only in English; there's no Maori translation
• unlike a book which you just open and use, it's important to make sure the iPad has enough battery-life to get you through Mass. A full-charge lasts for 10 hours. Hint: Turn the screen off during your sermon :-)
• managing the iPad itself, navigation, updates and the like, may be a challenge for some
• it probably requires a cover to make it look more like a book
• it costs NZ$26

Using the iPad as a replacement missal may not be everyone's "cup of tea", but I'd pose it's at least worthy of consideration.

Those looking to do something useful with their old iPad could now perhaps dedicate its use as "liturgical", and for those thinking about the additional text quality and the high definition screen of the new iPad; now just might be time to buy.

Additional links

• Apple New Zealand
• iPad Video
• iPad Ad
• Universalis App

John Murphy is a Marist priest working in the Marist Internet Ministry, New Zealand. He recently completed a two-year contract with ucanews.com. He has a Master of Communications Studies from Victoria University.

In his Clergy Newsletter for March Bishop Dunn says

• "The present (blue) CPC edition of Prayers of the Mass expires 31 March. It will not be replaced immediately, so we have the opportunity to become familiar with the New Missal.
• The (green) CPC book, The Celebration of the Mass, is a study edition with the text of the new Mass which may be useful for quiet preparation.
• St Joseph's Centre and other Catholic bookstores have St Paul Sunday Missal with Sunday readings plus prayers for 2012, plus the new Mass texts ($26.50). Some parishioners may find them helpful.

There may be an official launch date for the New Roman Missal during March, but Bishop Dunn and the Standing Committee of the Council of Priests suggest it may be easier just to start using the New Missal immediately as soon as you feel comfortable with the texts.

The introduction is made simpler by the fact that there are no further changes for the congregation."

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference has not set a day for national implementation of the new Roman Missal as yet, but they will be soon be informing people of a date that the new texts are to be in use by.

Wellington Archbishop John Dew, in his newsletter, thanked priests and leaders for their patience over what he said was an unavoidable delay while the printing error was corrected.

The new Roman Missal does not include any more new responses for the people to learn. However the traditional Our Father must be used now. The one that has been used in recent years may still be used for any other time of prayer, but not in the Mass.

Source:

• Archbishop Dew's Newsletter
• Image: Food for Thought

As reported in CathNews on November 11, a technical flaw in the printing process means the missal's introduction to New Zealand is delayed.

The Bishops' November 9 letter explaining the delay, said their required high standards for the new Missal had not been met and they hoped the printer would be able to advise within 7 - 10 days when the reprinted missals would be ready.

However when asked yesterday, Angela Pyke of the Bishops' National Communications office said she had not heard when the reprinted Roman Missals would be available.

Pyke confirmed the Missals are printed in New Zealand.

Despite the New Zealand delay, CNA reports that Cardinal Raymond Burke of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship is predicting great gains for the Church.

"I have a feeling that this will be a great moment for deepening people's liturgical piety and liturgical spirituality," he said.

"The prayers are much more beautiful and they carry with them a staying power," observed Burke.

He predicted the new prayers would "get people thinking about what they prayed, and taking consolation from it, and also inspiration."

"I have to say the texts are really much, much richer and much more beautiful."

The cardinal said the previous translation was "often very bland and stripped of any richness."

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, described the new translation as "Awesome, poetic, reverent language."

"I found myself, personally, having to understandably go more slowly at Mass because I was having to look more closely at the text," he recalled.

"And that's no bad thing."

Australian Catholics made these changes several months ago with their shift to the new English version.

"We've had no mutiny or revolution in Australia yet," said Canberra's Archbishop Mark Coleridge, chairman of the committee that prepared the new English lectionary.

"Predictions of chaos, and upheaval and revolution just haven't come to pass," he told CNA.

Public opinion however on Twitter was a little more diverse, and ranged from "excellent", "excited" and "even pangs of joy," through to describing the changes as "obsolete" and "stilted, with "no deeper grasp." One person even suggested occupying the Vatican.

Sources

• CNA
• CathNews
• Image: The Daily Reflector

A chaplain from a university campus in Papua New Guinea says "We have more than 500 student teachers from all over PNG. We have Mass in English every day, and so I have been using the current English-language missal." He goes on to say he has not seen the new Missal yet and wonders how a missionary country such as PNG will be able to get the new missal.

"There is very little money here to buy these new missals and they are always very expensive. And secondly, with my students coming from all parts of PNG, they already know the responses to the 'old' English Mass very well, but come this Advent, no one will know it. And it will be very difficult for me year in and year out having to teach the students on the new responses, as lots of students come from very remote places and would not have been exposed to the new changes or new missal."

Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university, as offered some advice to the questioner

Read more

Source

• Zenit.org
• Image: Blog.al.com

The new translation of the Mass was scheduled for the first Sunday in Advent but has been postponed and the Bishops have advised people to continue to use the format of the Mass introduced last year until further notice.

In a letter written in 9 November the Bishops said:

"The printing process of the new Missals was completed last week. At first sight they were everything we had hoped for. Unfortunately closer inspection of individual copies [revealed] that unbeknown to the printer a technical flaw had occurred in the production process. The pages containing the Eucharistic prayers were printed on heavier paper because they have higher usage. We had stipulated that the pages of the Missal must lie flat when open. The pages on heavier paper do not lie flat, so celebrants would find themselves holding the pages down. This problem will not reduce with time and usage, so it is a serious flaw"

The letter says that all possibilities for fixing the flaw have been explored by but it cannot be fixed.

The New Zealand Bishops set a high standard for the printing of the books and are not prepared to accept anything less.

The only option is to reprint the Missals.

It is hoped that within 7 to 10 days the printer will be able to advise when the reprinted Missals will be ready.

Ireland's Catholic Bishops' Conference also had problems with their new Missals, which were recalled after distribution.

The printer accepted full responsibility for the errors which included faulty ribbons and an uneven standard of printing in some Missals.

Sources

• Circular letter re New Missal - November 2011 (PDF) - NZ Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Food for Faith