Mass Translations Video

If you attend Roman Catholic Mass regularly, you probably know what to say and how to respond to the priest by heart. Well, get ready to do some homework, because pretty soon youll have to start learning the new English missal.

Cardinal George Pell is on the committee responsible for the changes in the English Missal. He explains that the liturgical texts in English are more of an interpretation rather than a true translation.

Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney (Australia)
The main goal of the translations is to get them accurate, faithful to the Latin. But also beautiful, strong and compelling English. And that means a lot of hard work.

The transition to the new English Missal may prove difficult because the current one has been in place for thirty years.

Father Randifer Boquiren, Professor, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome)
There are changes which are less important, more secondary, and there are changes which are probably more substantial.

Father Randifer Boquiren is a professor of liturgical theology in Rome. He says that the English speaking world will soon see changes in the textual part of the way people celebrate Mass because the Church wants the missal to stay true to the original Latin text.

Father Randifer Boquiren, Professor, University of the Holy Cross (Rome)
For example, the first change that the Faithful will encounter is when the priest says the Lord be with you and the faithful will have to respond not and also with you but will say and with your spirit.

Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney (Australia)
And with you was a mistranslation. It was an abbreviation. It wasnt an accurate translation. The Latin is et com spiritum tuo, and with your spirit.

Its estimated that the new missal be in full use in about two years time. Cardinal Pell and others in the Church say that ultimately it will be up to the individual parishes and clergy to help churchgoers adapt to the new text of the Mass.