Liturgical text far more than just a welcome mat

"Heaven on earth" at Roman Catholic Mass, not at "heretical" Anglican Communion Service

Last night I had the great pleasure of addressing a group of young adults at a “Theology on Tap” gathering on the topic of how best to begin preparing for the new English translation of the Roman Missal. It is so encouraging to witness the vibrancy of faith in this younger generation! (It’s also a sure sign that I’m getting old.)

During the Q&A portion of our time together I was somewhat surprised when a number of attendees sought an opinion on how the forthcoming translation is most likely to affect their non-Catholic friends during a visit to Holy Mass. They were concerned, it became known, that the new translation might somehow prove less “inviting” than the current text.

How ironic, I thought, that this topic would come up just days after Catholic News Service ran a story under the headline, “New Mass translation is ecumenically harmful, Anglican says.” (For the record, the young Catholics in attendance last night had apparently not read, and therefore were not influenced by, the CNS story to which we will return momentarily.)

The good news is that I sensed, for the most part, an authentic ecumenical fervor among the attendees; i.e., a desire not simply just to get along with their Christian friends, but rather a sincere longing to see those outside of the Catholic Church become Her visible members. It is also encouraging to note the fact that they very correctly identified Holy Mass — the centerpiece of our Catholic life — as the perfect venue (at least in theory) in which to introduce their friends to the unique presence and operations of Christ such as they dwell in the Catholic Church alone.

The bad news, however, is that their concern regarding the relative “welcomeness” of the new translation vis-à-vis non-Catholics is truly a symptom of a much larger problem — one that has been created in large measure by our blundered attempts to implement the liturgical reforms desired by the Fathers of Vatican Council II. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Catholic identity as expressed through the perceptible signs used in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite has been so utterly decimated over the last four decades that it lies all but hidden from view in many places, and it will take far more than just the corrected Missal to restore it.

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