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CHANGES IN THE ROMAN MISSAL, PART 6: Principles and Process for the New Translation
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This column is part of an ongoing series written by Father Daniel Merz highlighting many of the historical and theological bases of the forthcoming publication of a revised English translation of the Roman Missal. The new translation, tentatively set for release around November 2011, will involve slight but noticeable changes at Mass. Father Merz is the chairman of the Liturgical Commission for the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo. — BH]
On Sept. 15, 2003, the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments formally established the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) as a mixed commission in accordance with the Holy See’s Instruction, Liturgiam Authenticam, published in May 2001, which significantly revised the principles then in use for translation.
One of the aims in this restructuring of ICEL was to establish greater episcopal oversight in the process of translation. The congregation also created in the spring of 2002 a consultative body of bishops and experts called Vox Clara (“A Clear Voice”). Since the congregation had now reserved the approval of translations to itself, it was deemed necessary to form a team of bishops and experts who could act as consulters to the congregation and facilitate their cooperation with the various English-speaking episcopal conferences.
The process of achieving an approved English translation for the liturgy is extraordinarily involved. Indeed, I would venture to say that never in the history of the world has a set of texts received so much consultation, review and revision. ICEL has divided the Missale Romanum into several sections:
1) The work begins with the base translators. These are experts whom ICEL employs to make the initial translation from Latin to English.
2) Their translations are then studied by nine review teams.
3) Next, the texts are sent to the Roman Missal Editorial Committee (RMEC), which chiefly serves an editorial purpose. RMEC, which is a committee of ICEL, seeks to bring a unified style and consistency of vocabulary to prayers that have been composed and reviewed by various groups.
4) From RMEC, the texts go to the ICEL secretariat, which reviews and checks them for typographical or other mistakes.
5) The secretariat then brings them before the ICEL commission, which consists of 11 bishops — one from each of the 11-member conferences. Others usually present at these meetings include three members from the ICEL secretariat in Washington, D.C., the chair of RMEC and a few other experts and assistants. They review and amend each text, with only the 11 bishop members having voting rights.
6) Once a given section of the Missale is approved by the ICEL commission, then it is sent to each of the 11 episcopal conferences who have full membership. At this point, the particular section of the Missale is called a “green book” because of the color of its binder. The secretariat for each episcopal conference suggests revisions and solicits suggestions from every bishop in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (which has 273 active bishops in its membership).
7) Suggestions from each of the episcopal conferences are then sent back to the ICEL secretariat.
8) Along this process, the proposed translations are also sent to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome for suggestions and feedback from Vox Clara. There is often a regular exchange back and forth between ICEL and Vox Clara.
9) ICEL reviews the suggestions from the episcopal conferences (and from Vox Clara) and makes further revisions. The ICEL membership then votes to approve the translation, now called the “gray book” based on the color of its new binder.
10) The “gray book” is then sent back to each episcopal conference, which votes to accept or reject it. If the conferences accept the gray book, it then goes to Rome for final approval by the Congregation and the Holy Father. Each episcopal conference can also request adaptations in the gray book version, which Rome would approve only for that particular conference.
11) Finally, the Holy See provides (hopefully!) the “recognition” of the text, which then may be published and put to use.
As you can see, the process is long and involved. There can be many bumps and plenty of disagreements along the way, but it is hoped that with so many competent persons working together, the end result — even though it may be by committee — will be worthy of divine worship in the liturgy.
Here is the current status of the translation project: ICEL has completed all the green books, and most of the gray books. The U.S. bishop’s conference is scheduled to vote on the last gray book later this month. If all the votes go well, the final section will be sent to Rome by the end of this year. As soon as Rome gives final “recognition,” the English language “Roman Missal” will be ready for publication and use in the dioceses of the United States, possibly by the end of 2010.
[NEXT COLUMN: We go over some stylistic differences that will be seen in the new translation.]
(This article was reprinted with permission from The Catholic Missourian, the newspaper of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo.)
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