This year once again the Bishops have been unable to come to an agreement on a proper translation of the prayers said at Mass, in the United States, in the vernacular. For almost 40 years we have been using poor prayer translations in the Catholic Mass attended by the vast majority of church going Catholics. This issue is one of the larger objections “traditionalists” have against the Novus Ordo Mass.
In the recent USCCB conference held last month the Bishops were unable to come to a 2/3rds majority agreement in order to accept the new translation that is more true to the original Latin prayers. The Bishops have been arguing over the proposed updated translation provided by ICEL (International Commission for English) for the past decade. Also considering the voting is done by secret ballot so there is no way for you to know how your Bishop voted.
There have been arguments over using words like ineffable, gibbet, and wrought. A long time critic of the new translation Bishop Trautman said the text’s preference was to mimic the longer sentence structure of the Latin, and featured long sentences with a large number of dependent clauses and impedes the understanding in English. Trautman said “John and Mary Catholic have a right to have prayer texts that are clear and understandable. The document before us needs further work.”
This is very interesting considering the word ineffable is used 25 times within the USCCB website. Ineffable is used in the Catechism, in at least 10 magisterial documents in the past century, in the New American Bible, 2 Cor. 12:4, and a USCCB document of “Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America”
I think John and Mary Catholic are smart enough to look up a word if they don’t know its meaning. I think it’s high time the Bishops stopped trying to dumb things down and teach up to their laity. This lay person can even use ineffable in a sentence.
I think it is ineffable that the Bishops have allowed us to use poor English translations in the Mass for the past 4 decades.
The USCCB is Ineffable
In the recent USCCB conference held last month the Bishops were unable to come to a 2/3rds majority agreement in order to accept the new translation that is more true to the original Latin prayers. The Bishops have been arguing over the proposed updated translation provided by ICEL (International Commission for English) for the past decade. Also considering the voting is done by secret ballot so there is no way for you to know how your Bishop voted.
There have been arguments over using words like ineffable, gibbet, and wrought. A long time critic of the new translation Bishop Trautman said the text’s preference was to mimic the longer sentence structure of the Latin, and featured long sentences with a large number of dependent clauses and impedes the understanding in English. Trautman said “John and Mary Catholic have a right to have prayer texts that are clear and understandable. The document before us needs further work.”
This is very interesting considering the word ineffable is used 25 times within the USCCB website. Ineffable is used in the Catechism, in at least 10 magisterial documents in the past century, in the New American Bible, 2 Cor. 12:4, and a USCCB document of “Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America”
I think John and Mary Catholic are smart enough to look up a word if they don’t know its meaning. I think it’s high time the Bishops stopped trying to dumb things down and teach up to their laity. This lay person can even use ineffable in a sentence.
I think it is ineffable that the Bishops have allowed us to use poor English translations in the Mass for the past 4 decades.