Mass Translations Delayed

Eleven bishops who govern the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, met in Washington, D.C. in early August and expressed concern about new Mass translations from the Vatican. Contrary to widespread expectation that the translations will be available in 2005, there is still no consensus on several key issues, foremost among which seems to be concern about awkward Latinized phraseology.

Fr. Bruce Harbert, executive secretary of ICEL, told NCR August 2 that he welcomes the delay because “it gives time for the project to mature...A balance needs to be found between linguistic, theological and pastoral considerations, and they (ICEL bishops) will have an opportunity in the next few months to discuss this with their conferences.”
Some bishops are concerned about the ecumenical implications.

In recent decades, common prayer texts in English have been adopted by most of the major Christian denominations, and the bishops are reluctant to compromise that. Finally, Harbert said, the bishops also want to think more about the issues surrounding inclusive language. (National Catholic Reporter, August  6, 2004)