The”New Mass”

Know your faith - The”New Mass”. In 1963, Pope Paul VI decreed that “the liturgical books are to be revised as soon as possible … and translated to the mother tongue.” In 2001, the Vatican issued, Liturgiam authenticam (2001), stating; “in translations of the liturgical texts from the official Latin originals, "the original text, insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses.’ In the light of the new Latin version of the ‘Missal (2002), from which the translation must be made, the most obvious example was: “Dominus vobiscum” (The Lord be with you), and its reply; "Et cum spiritu tuo" (And with your spirit). This was at odds with the ‘73 translation where "And also with you" is used instead: this demonstrates the fundamental deviation from the Latin text. The International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) oversees the translation and presents these in sections to the bishops for comment (called The Green Book - in several versions) and for vote (The Gray Book). Eventually, this is passed to the pope for ratification. We are The Catholic (Universal) Church, and as English speakers, we are not in synergy with the rest of Catholicism in the Liturgical sense. So far, we are confronted with changes to the order of Holy Mass: in time, The Lectionary, The Breviary, The Ritual & Pontifical, The Martyrology and The Ceremonial of Bishops will follow.
Marius Vögel © 2009

Pope Paul VI Sacrosanctum Concilium, 4th December - Articles 25 & 36.4 (1963) International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., The English translation of The Roman Missal © (1973)

Jorge A. Card. Medina Estévez, Prefect of The Congregation for Divine Worship and The Discipline of The Sacraments, Liturgiam authenticam (On The Use of Vernacular Languages in the publication of the books of The Roman Liturgy) Fifth Instruction “For the Right Implementation of the Constitution on The Sacred Liturgy of The Second Vatican Council” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 36) 28 March 2001
International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL), Official Website - News Page a Joint Commission of Catholic Bishops Conferences http://www.icelweb.org/news.htm