A&M Student Newspaper Features Article on New Mass Translation

A front page story from The Battalion:

Catholic Mass changing translations
By Barrett House
The Catholic Church is not known for change.

Catholic traditions are an integral aspect of followers' faith and religious practices. Parishioners born as early as the 1960s have known the same Mass liturgy for their entire lives.

However, with the Vatican's blessing, English-speaking Catholics will adjust to an altered liturgy, beginning this month.

"What's not changing is the heart of the Mass," said Marcel LeJeune, assistant director of campus ministry at St. Mary's Catholic Church on Northgate. "What is changing is in the English speaking countries, we're having a new translation of the Mass from the original Latin translation."

When the Mass first changed from Latin to vernacular languages, LeJeune said the English translation was hurried. In comparison to other languages, the resulting English Mass was not translated to reflect the Latin origin entirely.

"If you go to a Korean or Spanish Mass, and translate them into English, they'd be more alike compared to the Latin," LeJeune said.

The overall structure of the Mass will not change. Instead, worshipers will notice changes in the prayers and the manner in which they are used during Mass. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Liturgy Committee aimed for the prayers to better reflect not only the original Latin text, but also the biblical texts.

"A lot of the biblical background of what's in our Mass and prayers is going to come out a little more for the English speaking people in the English speaking countries," LeJeune said. "So they're going to have more meat on the bone in a sense."
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