English-speaking Catholics around the globe were introduced Sunday to a re-translated Roman Missal that advocates say is not only more faithful to the original Latin liturgy but also more poetical.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Vatican and American Catholic officials "rolled out" Sunday — the first day of the Lenten season — a new version of the Roman Missal, a 1,518-page prayer book featuring every Catholic rite, liturgy and musical setting.
"This gives us a new opportunity to think of what we do when we attend Mass," Archbishop Jose Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told the Times. "It's been a long process, with a lot of experts working on this for years and years."
The original Missal was introduced 40 years ago in the wake of Vatican II, the papal council whose radical reforms abolished the Latin-language liturgy and introduced to dioceses vernacular worship. Currently there are Missals written in nearly every language used by Catholics — Spanish, French, Zimbabwean and, of course, English.
The original Missal had its detractors — among them not only traditionalists but also reformers.
"It became obvious very quickly after the translation was issued that not everyone was pleased," said Rev. John Baldwin. The original, he added, had the “poetic flair of a wet potato chip.”
