The Record’s Anthony Barich speaks with visiting liturgy expert Fr Paul Turner.
By Anthony Barich
The fruits of the Second Vatican Council will be seen in the new Missal translations, Fr Paul Turner says.
Fr Turner is the diocesan priest from Kansas City, Missouri and facilitator from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) who briefed Perth priests on the new Order of the Mass on August 21.
The Missale Romanum (the Roman Missal), the ritual text for the celebration of the Mass, was first promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 as the definitive text of the reformed liturgy of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council. A second edition followed in 1975.
Fr Turner said that many of the Mass texts are quite ancient, “so when we go back to get a deeper understanding of them in re-translating them we’re also being faithful to generations of believers who have gone before us”.
“They have preserved these words very carefully, handed them down from one generation to the next, just as you would a precious jewel from your family, or a stained glass window in your church,” he said.
“Importantly, the Order of Mass does not change. The new translation is simply having another look at the meaning of the words. The Latin and the rubrics (instructions) haven’t changed, so we’re still seeing the fruits of the Second Vatican Council with this new translation.”
Perth’s Redemtoris Mater Seminary Rector Fr Michael Moore SM told The Record that the changes reveal how the living God “comes to meet us in the sacraments”.
This is highlighted particularly in the new dismissals like “Go and announce the Gospel”.
“We go from the Eucharist after this encounter with Jesus Christ in the sacrament and in the Word to live a Christian life announcing the Gospel, making clear to people the love of Christ on earth, especially through His mercy and forgiveness,” he said.
However, Fr Turner expects parishioners and priests alike may stumble initially over phrases such as when Christ is referred to as “of one being with the Father”. This will be changed to “consubstantial with the Father” in the Nicene Creed.
This will pose understandable problems, Fr Turner says. “You want to be able to worship at Mass and if you can’t even say the word how can you understand, so there’s some resistance.”
He suspects that the reason the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments wants the faithful to use ‘consubstantial’ – which is close to the Latin ‘constubstantialis’ – is that it’s a very specific word to describe the union that Jesus has with the Father, how it is that they are of one substance, but in two different persons.
“Is it an unusual word? You bet. Is it unlike anything we use in our ordinary vocabulary? No.
“But the relationship between the Father and the Son is unlike anything we have in our vocabulary. We need a special word to describe the uniqueness between the two.”