The USCCB Thursday approved many (but not all) of the recommended changes to the English translation of the Mass. The controversy surrounding these changes reveals a lot about what’s wrong with Catholicism in this country.
We have the liberals claiming that the faithful will be less connected to the Mass and the requisite Jesuit saying the changes will lead to “chaos.” But how can the Church, founded by Christ himself, lead the faithful to be less connected? At least now, for the first time in ages, the faithful will have to think about the words they speak before murmuring. The entire point is to become closer to God, to make the words in English align more closely with the actual words of the Lord as understood and interpreted by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Is it too much to ask to commit a few new phrases to memory?
These changes, which will probably not be fully implemented for as long as two years, will be an interesting litmus test. It’s a question of obedience with very little theological implications for those who don’t like it. One wonders if the usual suspects will defy this order on principle, denying Rome any right to exert leadership. After all, if they cave in on translations, they might have surrender to orthodoxy on many other issues as well.