Community Corner
Catholic Mass Changes a Matter of Education, Says Local Pastor
While the words may be changing, the deeper meaning is the same, and for those who are instructed on the 'why' behind the changes, acceptance is high.
Beginning this year on the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, area Catholics will be responding differently to various prayers and portions of the mass. The changes to the Roman Missal, as the order of the mass is called, impacts English-speaking members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world, and is a result of a revised translation.
The revision was initially announced by Blessed Pope John Paul II during the Jubilee Year 2000, and marks the first such changes to the mass since the Vatican II council in the late 1960s. For some Catholics, the revisions may seem unnecessary as the overall meaning of the text isn't any different, and the familiarity of responses has to be relearned.
However, Pastor Bill Kohler at in Muskego, explained that the key to acceptance within a parish is tied to education.
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"We began talking about this during Lent this year," he said. "We're finding that the most questions are really coming from those people who haven't attended any of the meetings we've had on this."
Fr. Kohler explained the move was due to a better ability to translate the text from Latin, and the fact that in many countries don't have Latin scholars to correctly put the mass into English.
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"We have a great amount of resources here in this country of people who can examine the Latin text and put it into the appropriate English language," he said. "However, we speak colloquially in English and in other foreign countries English is the universal language, not Latin. It became important to improve the translation so those countries would be able to in turn translate from English to their native tongue more accurately."
The revised edition of the missal will include updated translations of existing prayers, including some of the well-known responses and acclamations. However the biggest changes will be undertaken by the priests themselves as they celebrate the mass.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese website provides information on the new Roman Missal and what the changes are.
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