Diocese of Covington - Messenger at 402 E. 21st Street, Covington, KY 41015 US - Diocese of Covington prepares for Roman Missal third edition

For 40 years Catholic priests have been praying the Mass in an English translation approved in 1970. Catholic worshippers have been responding using the same translation.

Now a new translation has been approved and will be used in all churches in the United States for the first time later this year, Nov. 27, 2011, the first Sunday of Advent.

How to prepare? How can this transition be an opportunity to restudy the Mass, the central prayer of the Catholic Church?

At the direction of Bishop Roger Foys, the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy has planned a variety of communications and educational opportunities, fulfilling its role as a resource in the diocesan-wide catechetical effort.

Father Ryan Maher, director of the Office of Worship and Liturgy, in an interview Feb. 4, noted the order of the Mass and its rituals are not changing, nor are the actions of the priest. But some of the words and phrases of the priest and the responses of the people will differ. The need for a new translation of the Roman Missal into English was required because Pope John Paul II called for a new Latin translation of the Mass prayers. That new Latin translation was approved in 2001.

Father Maher and Father Daniel Schomaker, assistant director of the worship office, have announced these plans:
• A 17-part series of articles will appear in the Messenger each week until December (the series will be repeated starting in June). The articles, all written by Father Schomaker, will elucidate a part of the Mass and the corresponding new translation.

• Another dozen articles about different aspects of the Mass will also appear in the Messenger (about one a month).

• Pastors, priests, chaplains, and deacons will use the Mass and the new translation as topics for homilies over the next nine months.

• Each pastor will be asked to form a team of parishioners to assist him as the parish prepares for the new text.

• Announcements and inserts in the weekly parish bulletin will be provided by the worship office.

• Information sessions are planned for deacons, school teachers and administrators, religious motherhouses, parish music directors, and other groups.

“During these months, all of us — clergy, lay faithful, religious — will be preparing to receive the new text,” Father Maher said, and will be supported by the Office of Worship and Liturgy.

The Mass is “how we worship as Catholics, the center of our spiritual life,” Father Maher said. “The Eucharist is the source and summit of our belief as Catholics.” Thus, he said, a change in the way we pray the Mass is a major transition and, more importantly, offers an invaluable opportunity to revisit and restudy the spiritual, biblical and historical richness of the Mass prayers and the sacred mysteries of the Mass.

“This time of study will, we hope, awaken in our hearts the fire that the Holy Spirit wants us to have so that when we come to the celebration of the Mass we are ready to give to God our worship and praise,” Father Maher said.

For more information about the new Roman Missal translation, please visit the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org/romanmissal.