A welcome change...for a change.

In what could be a real revival in the Catholic Church..

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops signed off Thursday on a new English translation for the Mass that would change prayers ingrained in the memories of millions of American parishioners.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted at its biannual meeting for a new translation after a brief but vigorous debate over several small changes in wording. The 173-29 vote on the Order of the Mass was aimed at satisfying Vatican calls for a translation that's closer to the Latin version.

Before Mass changes at the parish level, the Americans' version must go to offices in the Holy See for final approval. The bishops' leader on the issue said that process could take years.

"Without a doubt, this is the most significant liturgical action to come before this body for many years," said Bishop Donald Trautman, chairman of the conference's Committee on Liturgy.

"It will take some adapting, but it is not earth-shattering when you think of the changes we went through 40 years ago," he said, referring to the Second Vatican Council, where the Latin Mass was replaced by the vernacular languages in each country.

The new translation alters the wording of key texts spoken by Catholics during worship, including the Nicene Creed, the Gloria, the Penitential Rite, the Sanctus and Communion.

[snip]

Minor changes to the wording of many portions of the Mass will be obvious to Catholics. The repeated exchanges "The Lord be with you" / "And also with you" between a priest and his congregation, for example, become "The Lord be with you" / "And with your spirit" in the updated version.

The prayer said before Communion would become "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof," instead of "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you."

Actually, these are not changes at all, but really a going back to the liturgy pre-1966. I remember as a child the exact same liturgy and verbiage as what they are now proposing under the "changes".

Quite frankly, this surprised me. When I read the AP headline, I thought, "O great...here we go-- now God is going to be called "she" and the word, "woman" is going to be changed to "womyn".

I had become so used to the liberalization of the Catholic Church that I was quite happily shocked when I found that the Church would actually be going back, closer to its Latin roots.

Personally, I applaud these changes.

As they say, much is lost in translation. After the 1966 liturgical changes became complete post Vatican II, the language became more familiar; but, being in everyday vernacular, much of the mystery and sanctity of the liturgy was lost.

Prior to the meeting, the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest, said the new Mass would "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."

On the contrary, I believe that this change will spark a new spirituality within the Catholic church, and provide a deeper, more mystical meaning. As of late, I have become disenchanted with the Catholic Church, and have been viewing it as an institution overrun by Jesuit liberal theology and thought; which, IMO, has largely contributed to if not downright caused the Church's downfall in the last 30 years.

This is a welcome change... enough for this Catholic who has been yearning for the Church's mystical roots to return, to once again return to the fold.

I truly believe that it is divine providence that brought us Pope Benedict. Pope John Paul II was needed at the time of his installation; his being a student of worldy affairs and a stalwart opponent of Soviet expansionism. Now, again, at the correct time, Pope Benedict was given the Church so as to restore it to its mystical splendor.

Along with these changes, it is also my fervent hope that the Catholic Church moves closer again to the notion of the Blessed Virgin as a mediatrix between man and Jesus, and that there is a return to paying homage to the mother of Jesus at the same level of affection that we had in the Church when I was a kid; where devotions such as The May Crowning, the Magnificat, the Angelus, and regular recitations of the rosary were commonplace.

(Filed under faith)