THANKS BE TO GOD AND POPE FRANCIS FOR RETURNING SANITY TO THE SACRED LITURGY

In an earlier post this month, I wrote about Pope Francis appointing a host of new members to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.  In that post, I expressed a word of hope that the Holy Father would charge the Congregation with a re-write of the awful translation English speaking celebrants of Holy Mass are being forced to use on account of the decree “Liturgiam Authenticam” promulgated during the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.

Now comes word that Pope Francis has indeed ordered a review of “Liturgiam Authenticam.” The commission, established by the Pope just before Christmas, is also tasked with examining what level of decentralization is desirable in the church on matters such as this.

The mixed commission includes Bishops from all the continents. Significantly, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Arthur Roche, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, to be its president. The English-born archbishop is the number two official at the congregation; he has more experience in the liturgical field and a more open approach to liturgical questions than its prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah.

The Vatican has not provided details on the commission, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting soon. Nor has it published the names of the commission’s members.

My joy and hopeful enthusiasm for this commission is overwhelming.  It is hard to express my frustration with the present translation of the Prayers at Mass and Eucharistic Prayers, a translation that is not suitable for public prayer and which distracts from prayers themselves.

A news report stated that Pope Francis was motivated to establish this commission for two reasons.

First, in keeping with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope wants local Bishops’ Conferences to exercise greater responsibility and authority and, by so doing, clarify the role of the Pope in preserving unity in the Church, given that Liturgy, the Roman Rite, creates unity within the Latin Church.

The second reason is that Francis is attentive and sensitive to some Bishops’ Conferences which have voiced their unhappiness with the translations required by “Liturgiam Authenticam".  They consider  it too rigid and do not accept that there is such a thing as “sacral language.” They charge that “Liturgiam” seeks an almost literal translation of the Latin liturgical texts into the vernacular or local language of the different countries, often with unsatisfactory results. 

The Japanese Bishops, for example, have struggled with the Congregation over who should decide what is an acceptable Japanese translation of these texts. They and several other Bishops’ conferences, are clearly unhappy with the directives of “Liturgiam” and the level of centralization involved in it.

If the review is successful in tossing out these awful translations, I will be grateful to Pope Francis for the rest of my life.  Thank you, Holy Father.  

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for this gift of hope that the sacred Mass Prayers and Eucharistic Prayers will be intelligible and conducive to prayer once again.  I am so happy for myself, my brothers in the Priesthood, and the myriad number of God’s People who come to Mass to pray in the familiar language of their daily lives.