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	New Words for Mass: Let It Be So, Bishops Say Changes Are Intended to Restore Prayers to Their Latin Roots; Rome's OK Required By Laurie Goodstein and Cindy Chang Indianapolis Star [United States] June 16, 2006 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060616/NEWS06/606160503/1012 Roman Catholic bishops in the United States voted Thursday to change the wording of many of the prayers and blessings that Catholics have recited at Mass for more than 35 years, yielding to Vatican pressure for an English translation that is closer to the original Latin. The bishops, meeting in Los Angeles, voted 173-29 to accept many of the changes to the Mass, ending a 10-year struggle that many English-speaking Catholics had dubbed "the liturgy wars." Passage required a two-thirds vote. Some changes are minor, but in other cases Catholics will have to learn longer and more awkward versions of familiar prayers. For example, instead of saying, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you" in the prayer before Communion, they will say, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." The reason for the change is a Vatican directive issued in 2001 under Pope John Paul II that demanded closer adherence to the Latin text. But some bishops in the English-speaking world were indignant at what they saw as a Vatican move to curtail the autonomy of each nation's bishops to translate liturgical texts according to local tastes and needs. The new translation is likely to please those traditionalists who longed for an English version more faithful to the Latin in use before the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. But it may upset Catholics who have committed the current prayer book to heart and to memory and who took comfort in its conversational cadences. "This translation will affect the worship life of every Catholic in the United States and beyond," said Bishop Donald W. Trautman, Erie, Pa., chairman of the bishops' Committee on the Liturgy and a vocal critic of the new translation who helped stir opposition to it. The translation must go to the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for final approval. It could still take years until the new text is published and put into use in American churches. The Rev. Patrick J. Beidelman, director of liturgy for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis and pastor at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, said the new wording appears more faithful to the original Latin and more reflective of the scriptural roots behind some of the phrases in the Mass. In the pre-Communion prayer, he said, the "roof" reference is straight out of a passage in the Gospel of Matthew in which a centurion, seeking healing for his servant, says he is not worthy to have Jesus enter under his roof. That connection is important, Beidelman said, given Catholic belief that the bread and wine are literally the body and blood of Christ. The bishops rejected about 60 of the changes proposed by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy, the panel of bishops from 11 English-speaking countries that prepared the translation. Other changes were easier for the bishops to accept. The familiar exchange of greetings between the priest and congregation: "The Lord be with you/And also with you," will be replaced by "The Lord be with you/And with your spirit." This version is already used in Spanish-language Masses and many others. U.S. bishops went into the meeting under pressure to put an end to the controversy. Bishops in Australia, Scotland, England and Wales had already voted to accept the Vatican-backed translation. Last month, Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship, sent a letter to the president of the U.S. bishops' conference, Bishop William S. Skylstad, saying the U.S. church must accept the changes. "It is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past 30 or 40 years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes," he wrote. Some have worried about changing a fundamental rite of worship that is so much a part of Catholic identity. Attendance at Masses has been declining, the priest shortage has left a growing number of churches without a resident cleric, bishops and parishioners have been battling over the closure of old churches and schools, and the prelates have been trying to rebuild trust in their leadership after the clergy sexual abuse crisis. "It's going to cause chaos and real problems, and the people who are going to be at the brunt end of it are the poor priests in the parishes who don't need any more problems," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest. Star reporter Robert King contributed to this story. CHANGES APPROVED BY U.S. BISHOPS A look at some of the changes to the Mass that were approved by the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops Thursday. The bishops' version now goes to the Vatican for final approval: • The exchanges between priest and parishioners that now go "The Lord be with you/And also with you" would become "The Lord be with you/And with your spirit." • The Act of Penitence, in which people confess aloud that they have sinned "through my own fault" would include the lines "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." • Early in the Eucharistic Prayer, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might" would become "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts." • In the Nicene Creed, the opening words "We believe" would become "I believe." (Another change proposed to the Nicene Creed was rejected: It will still be "one in being" instead of the proposed "consubstantial.") • Before Communion, the prayer "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you" would become "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof." -- Associated Press
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