Lost in translation: the bishops, the Vatican & the English Liturgy

Commonweal, Dec 2, 2005 by John Wilkins

A plea by Bishop Taylor to Cardinal Medina on July 12, 2000, shows a lamb among wolves. The cardinal's letter, the bishop noted, had spoken of "a grave crisis" which the Vatican congregation would have to resolve. Courteously, the bishop took issue: "To speak of a grave crisis seems to overlook the scope for dialogue in the present situation. The revised draft was composed exclusively by bishops (members of the episcopal board of ICEL) who represent various bishops' conferences and have their confidence. Is it not possible for a reasonable dialogue to take place between them and the congregation?"

Bishop Taylor went on to press the Vatican II principle of the governance of the church by the whole college of bishops: "The bishops are men of integrity and responsibility with wide pastoral experience who, presumably, also have the confidence of the Holy Father and the Holy See. If collegiality among bishops means anything, surely we may be allowed to explain our work to bishop-members (and other officials) of the congregation, to answer questions or concerns, and generally to be treated maturely in a matter all of us know to be of great pastoral importance for millions of Catholics in many countries."

But the CDW was moving toward its knockout blow. On March 28, 2001, it published a new instruction on the use of the vernacular, titled Liturgiam authenticam (Authentic Liturgy), which overturned the entire basis on which ICEL's work had rested for nearly forty years. And in July a supervisory committee of cardinals and bishops known as Vox clara (Clear Voice) was established to ensure that the Vatican would get exactly what it wanted. The English-speaking language group is the only one to have had such a committee imposed on it.

Liturgiam authenticam did not recommend, it commanded. It insisted that translations follow an extreme literalism, extending even to syntax and rhythm, punctuation, and capital letters. The clear implication was that in this way it would be possible to achieve a sort of "timeless" English above the change of fashion, a claim reminiscent of that made for the Ronald Knox translation of the Bible, which today is so dated that it is not read except as a period piece.

A stipulation that appeared to mark a further retreat from Vatican II perspectives ruled out ecumenical cooperation over liturgical translations. This meant the end of pioneering links begun in 1967 between ICEL and the North American Consultation on Common Texts and the International Consultation on English Texts. Moreover, according to Liturgiam authenticam, "great caution is to be taken to avoid a wording or style that the Catholic faithful would confuse with the manner of speech of non-Catholic ecclesial communities or other religions, so that such a factor will not cause them confusion or discomfort."

Could the framers of the Vatican instruction really be suggesting that translations of the Gloria and Creed agreed upon with other churches were causing "confusion" and "discomfort" to Catholic parishioners who had heard them used in non-Catholic liturgies? As recently as 1995, in his ecumenical encyclical Ut unum sint, Pope John Paul himself had encouraged the preparation of agreed-upon texts for the prayers of the liturgy that the Christian churches have in common.