Mailing It In

Mailing it in. That is what the US Bishops will need to do in order to approve the new translations of the liturgy. The Bishops in conference failed to achieve the 2/3 majority needed to pass the translations because of a detachment of dinosaurs who cannot let go of the poorly translated but oh-so-inclusive past.

Of course, perennial patronizer led the charge against what is essentially a fait accompli either after the mail in vote or when the Vatican finally takes it out of the Bishops conference’s hands.

Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., had several times raised questions about the timetable for submitting the liturgical texts and voiced frustration with their grammar, sentence structure and word choices that he said were not suited to contemporary worship.

“I say yes to more accurate Latin translation … yes to a more elevated tone,” Bishop Trautman said from the floor. “But a resounding no to incomplete sentences, to two and three clauses in sentences, no to 13 lines in one sentence, no to archaic phrases, no to texts that are not proclaimable, not intelligible and not pastorally sensitive to our people.”

I can think of a couple of unproclaimable phrases right about now.

You will remember that Bishop Trautman’s main beef with the translations are his assumption that you are too stupid to understand them. He maintains that same line today. Try to keep up.

In an interview with Catholic News Service Bishop Trautman singled out for example a phrase included in the translations for votive Masses and Masses for the dead: “May the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Lord, cleanse our hearts and make them fruitful within by the sprinkling of his dew.”

“What does that even mean?” he asked, citing frustration also with phrases such as “the sweetness of your grace.”

“I don’t think the word ‘sweetness’ relates to people today,” at least not in the way the translation intends, he told CNS.

What Bishop Trautman and the rest of the hold outs fail to realize is that they are the ones who fail to relate to the people of today. These dodos are merely delaying the inevitable. The translations will eventually be approved and the liturgy will be better for it.

When finally we hear this better translation of the liturgy at mass, my long parched soul will be soothed by the its dew and I will relish its sweetness even more.