Vatican wants inclusive translation
pulled
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
Citing doctrinal flaws and dangers to the faith, a Vatican
official has instructed the embattled international commission that translates
liturgical texts into English to stop circulation of its version of the Old
Testament psalms.
Completed in 1993, that translation is known for its use of
inclusive language, or vocabulary that is not gender specific. The Vatican
official told the International Commission on English in the Liturgy that it
has a duty in conscience to discourage use of the text, despite any
obstacles posed by civil copyright laws.
Released as a study text, the translation, known as a psalter, is
widely published and used by religious communities for communal prayer.
The commissions psalter has long been viewed with suspicion
in Rome. In 1998, the U.S. bishops withdrew their imprimatur, granted in 1995.
That decision was made under Vatican pressure (NCR, June 19, 1998).
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the churchs top doctrinal
official, has criticized inclusive language for reflecting feminist ideological
influences. He has likewise argued that reducing masculine pronouns makes it
difficult to read the psalms Christologically, that is, as
anticipations of Christ.
The directive about the psalter is the latest blow to the
International Commission on English in the Liturgy, a body created after the
Second Vatican Council (1962-65) as a collaborative endeavor of
English-speaking bishops conferences.
Roman criticism of the commission has mounted for several years,
culminating in an Oct. 26, 1999, letter from Cardinal Jorge Medina
Estévez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, asserting broad new powers over the agency
(NCR, Dec. 24, 1999).
The new move against the psalter came in a Jan. 14 letter from an
official in Medinas office. Addressed to Scottish Bishop Maurice Taylor,
chair of the commissions 11-member governing board, the letter insists
that distribution of the psalter be stopped. A copy of the letter was obtained
by NCR.
The most significant fact is that the
text has been
found after careful study by the Holy See to be doctrinally flawed, the
letter says. Such a text is clearly no more suited for private prayer
than for public proclamation, and it is therefore a matter of the greatest
importance to impede its further diffusion.
The letter is signed by Archbishop Francesco Pio Tamburrino,
Medinas second in command.
Though commission staff declined to comment, sources told
NCR that Taylor had earlier written to the congregation about the
psalter. He said that under civil law in the United States and other countries,
the commission generally cannot withdraw permission for religious communities
and liturgical publishers to reproduce the translation. A standard contract
grants reprint permission for as long as the relevant copyright lasts.
Tamburrino alludes to this argument in his Jan. 14 letter.
It may or may not be the case that the issues of civil copyright licenses
impose the restrictions
which are claimed in the briefing.
There
remains, however, the question of a duty in conscience to ensure proper
information not only on the juridical status of the text, but also on the fact
that the text does not accurately represent the word of God and therefore risks
being a danger to the faith, he wrote.
Tamburrino asks that Taylor set the necessary machinery in
motion to cut off circulation of the text and instructs him to inform the
congregation of the details.
The commissions translation has been issued in different
forms by several publishers. Liturgy Training Publications in Chicago reported
in 1998 that it had sold 15,000 to 20,000 copies of the psalms, and another
30,000 copies of a version arranged for daily prayer.
The 5,600-strong Sisters of Mercy in the United States chose the
commissions version of the psalms for their most recent book of morning
and evening prayer. Sr. Sheila Carney, a member of the committee that made the
selection, said the sisters consulted with biblical scholars and other
experts.
Carney said that freshness of language and
singability were among the factors that led to the choice. The
issue of scriptural accuracy was part of the evaluation, Carney said.
There was nothing that would have led us to be concerned.
Carney said the prayer book has been very warmly
received by the sisters. She noted that some English-speaking Mercy
communities outside the United States also use the commissions
translation.
Several communities of Dominican men and women in the United
States likewise use a prayer book incorporating the commissions version
of the psalms. That book appeared in the mid-1990s with a preface from the
orders master, English Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, calling the new
translations faithful to the original texts.
Dominican Fr. Frank Quinn, who worked on the prayer book, said the
commissions translation is absolutely not doctrinally
flawed.
The committee that produced this translation had expert
scripture scholars and others working on it, Quinn said. I would
love to see them [the Vatican] explain just what the flaws are.
In 1997, Liturgical Press of Collegeville, Minn., published a book
of prayer for Benedictine oblates using the commissions psalter.
According to Benedictine Fr. Michael Naughton, that edition has sold 8,000
copies over three printings. To my knowledge, we have received no
complaints about it, Naughton said.
The International Commission on English in the Liturgy began work
on a new translation of the psalter in 1978. The text was finalized in 1993 and
released as a study text so that it could be revised after communities had
experimented with the new translations in prayer, chant and song.
Paulist Fr. Lawrence Boadt, a member of the editorial committee
that produced the psalter, told NCR that extensive precautions were
taken to ensure accuracy and doctrinal fidelity. From 1978 to 1984, we
only translated 10 psalms, Boadt said. We used that time to study
the work, including the issue of theological accuracy.
Boadt noted that the committee justified its use of inclusive
language under the guidelines in a 1969 Vatican document on translation,
Comme le prévoit, that is now likely to be revoked by Rome
(NCR, Jan. 14).
The issue here is obviously inclusive language, Boadt
said. If not for that, nobody would be raising doctrinal
objections.
The full text of Tamburrinos letter may be found at
www.natcath.org/ncr_onli.htm Click on the Documents button.
National Catholic Reporter, April 7,
2000
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