A 'Statement of Concern', and petition has been published on-line, appealing to the Catholic Church and its leadership to undertake a pilot program in selected English-speaking parishes of the Latin Rite of the new translation of the Roman Missal before its introduction.According to the statement, "It is now forty-five years since the Second Vatican Council promulgated the ground-breaking and liberating document on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The conciliar document transcended ecclesiastical politics. It was not just the pet project of a party, but the overwhelming consensus of the bishops of the world. Its adoption passed overwhelmingly: 2,147 to 4. In our wildest dreams could we ever have imagined that we would live to witness what seems more and more like the systematic dismantling of the great vision of the Council's decree? But we have."
In an article in America, the premier Jesuit-edited magazine in the U.S. Rev. Michael G. Ryan of Seattle Washington wrote of his objections to the translation from Latin into modern English. Wrote Father Ryan, "What is at stake, it seems to me, is nothing less than the church’s credibility. It is true that the church could gain some credibility by giving us more beautiful translations, but clumsy is not beautiful, and precious is not prayerful. During a recent dinner conversation with friends, the issue of the new translations came up. Two at the table were keenly—and quite angrily—aware of the impending changes; two were not. When the uninformed heard a few examples (“and with your spirit”; “consubstantial with the Father”; “incarnate of the Virgin Mary”; “oblation of our service”; “send down your Spirit like the dewfall”; “He took the precious chalice”; “serene and kindly countenance,” for starters), the reaction was somewhere between disbelief and indignation.
One person ventured the opinion that with all that the church has on its plate today—global challenges with regard to justice, peace and the environment; nagging scandals; a severe priest shortage; the growing disenchantment of many women; seriously lagging church attendance—it seems almost ludicrous to push ahead with an agenda that will seem at best trivial and at worst hopelessly out-of-touch."
Father Ryan has been pastor of St. James Cathedral in Seattle since 1988 and serves on the national Cathedral Ministry Conference. He was once a top assistant to former Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen.
A STATEMENT OF CONCERN
We are very concerned about the proposed new translations of the Roman Missal. We believe that simply imposing them on our people -- even after a program of preparation -- will have an adverse effect on their prayer and cause serious division in our communities.
We are convinced that adopting translations that are highly controversial, and which leaders among our bishops as well as many highly respected liturgists and linguists consider to be seriously flawed, will be a grave mistake.
For this reason we earnestly implore the bishops of the English-speaking world to undertake a pilot program by which the new translations -- after a careful program of catechesis -- can be introduced into some carefully selected parishes and communities throughout the English-speaking world for a period of one (liturgical) year, after which they can be objectively evaluated.
We are convinced that this approach will address the concerns of those many bishops who feel that they have lost their voice in this matter and that it will also give a voice to the People of God whose prayer is at stake and who accordingly have the most to gain or lose by the translations.
We realize that a pilot project of this kind is unprecedented, but so is the process by which these translations have been approved.
For more information and to see the petition, click on: www.whatifwejustsaidwait.org/
To see Fr. Ryan's article, click on: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12045
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