The 2011 English translation of the Missal was described by renowned Jesuit theologian Gerald O’Collins as “clunky and Latinised”.
Fr O’Collins SJ, who holds eight doctorates in theology, in a letter sent to The Tablet, urged Catholics to act quickly to rescue Anglophone Catholics’ participation in Mass by taking up the “incomparably better” translation prepared in 1998 by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). That translation was approved by bishops’ conferences but rejected by Rome.
According to O’Collins, the translation formulated by the Vatican “sounds like Latin texts transposed into English words rather than genuine English”. He said the Vatican translation fell far short of Jesus’s own “simple and direct” way of addressing God in the Our Father.
O’Collins appealed to the bishops: “Please pass on now to English-speaking Catholics the 1998 translation that you or your predecessors voted for only a few years ago”.
A ‘fraternal thank you’ from the Pope
On International Women’s Day last Sunday, Pope Francis especially greeted “all women throughout the world who are seeking, every day, to build a more human and welcoming society”. He continued with a “a fraternal ‘thank you’ for all those women who, in a thousand ways, bear witness to the Gospel and work in the Church”.
Pope Francis said: “A world where women are marginalised is a sterile world, because women don’t just bear life but transmit to us the ability to see otherwise; they see things differently. They transmit to us the ability to understand the world with different eyes, to understand things with hearts that are more creative, more patient, more tender.”
European unity based on human dignity
Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Paul Gallagher, said: “The Pope reminds us of the Christian roots of our continent… and exhorts members of the European Parliament as the time has come to work together in building a Europe that revolves not around the economy, but around the sacredness of the human person, around inalienable values. The time has come for us to abandon the idea of a Europe that is fearful and self-absorbed, in order to revive and encourage a Europe of leadership, a repository of science, art, music, human values and faith.
“The absence of mutual support in the EU runs the risk of encouraging particularistic solutions to the problem [of immigration], solutions which fail to take into account the human dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing social tensions.
“Christianity has to perform her mission in Europe, and the Catholic Church especially, in which the unity of cultural differences is found, can offer tangible help to unite and strengthen the national family of Europe”.
Church leaders defend Oslo bishop
Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo, who is under investigation on fraud charges, has been defended by a number of Church leaders.
The bishop has been accused of improperly registering Norwegian residents as Catholics, thus netting government subsidies to the tune of €5.5 million. Police said immigrants were registered as members of the diocese if they came from Catholic countries although they did not present evidence of their religious memberships.
Eidsvig admitted the error in registrations, apologised, and has already removed 8,000 names from its registration records. He “denies any conscious or intentional fraud”.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)