New document replaces 35 years of liturgy
work
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Rome
Authors of Vatican documents face the unenviable task of issuing
orders and crafting arguments at the same time. Their texts must command,
because they express the rules of the church; but they must also persuade,
because otherwise people expected to follow those rules may balk.
In the case of Liturgiam Authenticam, a Vatican document
issuing new rules on liturgical translation, the orders seem clear enough, but
how persuasive they will be remains to be seen.
Critics say the document, issued May 7, strikes at the heart of
Vatican II ecclesiology by centralizing power in the curia and by insisting
that local cultures adopt an essentially Roman style of worship.
Liturgiam Authenticam is a form of Western
Colonialism masquerading as ecclesial unity, said Viatorian Fr. Mark
Francis, a liturgical scholar who has worked on translations for the
English-speaking world.
Francis argued that while the Second Vatican Council (1962-65)
envisioned the use of vernacular languages as a first step toward liturgies
that reflect local cultures, Liturgiam Authenticam demands a uniform
Roman model. He questioned assertions that the document is the fruit of 35
years of liturgical experience after Vatican II.
It doesnt reflect those 35 years, Francis told
NCR. It wants to wipe them out.
Liturgiam Authenticam demands that translators stick
closely to the Latin originals of liturgical texts. It effectively repeals a
1969 Vatican document that afforded translators wide latitude in using words
and phrases appropriate to the various vernacular languages.
The 1969 document, Comme le prévoit, endorsed an
approach that came to be known as dynamic equivalency. The approach quickly
became dominant in the English-speaking Catholic world.
In recent years, Rome has signaled a shift away from Comme le
prévoit, rejecting or revising several translations that reflected
its principles.
Examples of wording now likely to be changed include saying
and with your spirit instead of and also with you when
the priest says peace be with you during the Mass, or saying
I believe rather than we believe at the beginning of
the Creed.
The idea, according to Liturgiam Authenticam, is to foster
a sacred style of liturgical speech. A related aim is to avoid
wording that the Catholic faithful would confuse with a manner of speech
of non-Catholic ecclesial communities or of other religions. Such
similarities could lead to confusion or discomfort, according to
the new document.
Most controversially for English speakers, the norms limit use of
inclusive language, or vocabulary that is not gender-specific. Thus for
us would not be an acceptable adaptation of for us men in the
Creed.
A Vatican official who spoke to NCR on condition that he
not be identified said, however, that Liturgiam Authenticam is not a
power grab. Instead, he said, its a way of making sure that the Vatican
is a partner in the translation process. Existing systems often tried to
exclude a role for Rome, he said.
The hope now is that the Holy See will be involved from the
beginning, so we wont have to say no at the end, the official said.
We dont just want to control things. Its not Genghis Khan
sitting over here waiting to send out the horses.
The official rejected charges that the Vatican is undercutting
collegiality or the authority of bishops and bishops conferences.
I have never followed the reasoning behind a theory of
collegiality that excludes the head of the college or his
representatives, he said, referring to the traditional understanding that
the pope is the head of the college of bishops.
The official also argued that since the pope uses liturgical texts
as translated into the vernacular languages, the Vatican has a legitimate
interest in the quality of those translations.
Other critics of the dynamic equivalency approach, who regard it
as a way for translators to inject their own biases into texts, were
predictably heartened.
Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio of San Francisco , a leading critic of
the approach adopted by ICEL, said the Vatican document will prevent both
a Balkanization into national or ethnic churches, and a cultural imperialism in
which elites from the First World impose their idiosyncracies on less
influential nations.
Others, however, argue that the Vaticans insistence on a
stronger role in shaping liturgical language, reflected in Liturgiam
Authenticam, contravenes the intentions of Vatican II.
To not inculturate is to die, said Jesuit Fr. Keith
Pecklers, who teaches at Romes prestigious Pontifical Liturgical
Institute.
Pecklers predicted that Liturgiam Authenticam will be
strongly critiqued by professionals for its lack of collegiality
and its inconsistencies with Vatican II principles. Ultimately, he said,
the document may have a very short shelf life.
Capuchin Fr. Ed Foley, a liturgical expert in Chicago, said the
document has an overriding concern for procedures and control. He
pointed out that Liturgiam Authenticam mentions no fewer than 30 times
the Vaticans power to grant a recognitio, or approval, to
translations.
Fr. James Moroney, chief of staff for the U.S. bishops
committee on liturgy, insisted that Liturgiam Authenticam does not
signal a rollback on Vatican IIs vision.
The document is trying to assure an authentic inculturation
by which the immemorial rites and prayers of the church are made available in
the vernacular languages, he said.
Moroney, a consultor to the Vatican office on liturgy, spoke to
NCR in Rome.
Liturgiam Authenticam is a direct, organic
development of the vision of the council fathers, he said.
Moroney said its important not to overreact. Liturgiam
Authenticam still permits a moderate use of inclusive language,
such as translating the Greek for brothers in the letters of Paul
as brothers and sisters.
The Vatican official said that, in some instances, Rome has
blocked inclusive language precisely out of a concern for inclusivity. He
offered the example of for us men rather than for
us.
Who is the us in the second sentence? he
said. If you think about it, that expression is open to the worst kind of
exclusivist interpretation. It could mean us white middle-income
Americans.
A particular concern of Liturgiam Authenticam is the status
of mixed commissions, or translation bodies created as joint
projects of several bishops conferences. The most controversial has been
the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, sponsored by 11
English-speaking conferences, including the United States. The commission has
been faulted for an excessively liberal approach to translation, especially
with inclusive language.
Dominican Fr. Frank Quinn, a liturgical scholar in St. Louis, told
NCR he sees Liturgiam Authenticam as the end of the
commission as we have known it. Quinn said he regarded this as a
profoundly sad development.
Moroney argued that the document is not intended as an
attempt to kill any individual commission, but acknowledged that it
codifies Vatican power to define a commissions statutes, its
philosophy, and its way of life.
Another bone of contention with Liturgiam Authenticam is
what some critics see as a lack of consultation. Among bishops criticizing the
process, Bishop Maurice Taylor, Scotlands representative to the
International Commission on English in the Liturgy, has complained that
bishops conferences were not consulted in advance.
Bishop Peter Cullinane, New Zealands delegate to the
commission, was quoted in the newspaper of his dioceses, as saying, For
more than two years, the bishops appointed to represent the English-speaking
countries have tried to meet with the Congregation for Divine Worship to
discuss these matters. The various excuses given for not meeting are an
interesting study in themselves. They have nothing to do with
collegality.
Moroney, however, said that the U.S. bishops committee on
the liturgy had carried out a consultation on translation, the results of which
were taken into consideration in work on Liturgiam Authenticam.
One immediate question is what impact Liturgiam Authenticam
will have on the English translation of the Sacramentary, the collection of
prayers for the Mass, currently awaiting action in Rome. Sources said it is
certain to introduce new factors resulting in additional
delays.
At its most basic level, the Vatican official said, the goal of
Liturgiam Authenticam is to preserve a special, elevated language for
the public worship of the church, what he called the linguistic
equivalent of sacred space. Ideas in the texts, both biblical and
liturgical, are something the church has to offer the world, he said,
which means pushing the vernacular language to places it has not gone
before. The official cited the King James Bible as an example.
The argument was not persuasive for Pecklers.
The problem with the document is that it critiques
ideologies, but is itself heavily ideological. It does not represent the
mainstream of the Catholic church in the post-conciliar years, Pecklers
said.
It sticks out like a sore thumb.
The clash of views seems destined to continue. Sources told
NCR that a group of cardinals hopes to raise Liturgiam
Authenticam in the context of a larger debate over collegiality during a
special consistory in Rome May 21-24.
The e-mail address for John L. Allen Jr. is
jallen@natcath.org
Link to Liturgiam Authenticam is on the documents
page. Just click on the Documents button on the front page.
National Catholic Reporter, May 25,
2001
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