Contents
Authors’ Note
Preface
1. The Missal That Never Was
John Wilkins
2. Translation into the Vernacular: Two Guidelines
3. The Roman Missal of December 2010
4. The Suppressed Translation of 1998
5. The Opening Prayers of the 1998 Missal
6. A Tale of Two Missals (1998 and 2010)
Postscript: September 2017
Select Bibliography
Index of Names
Gerald O'Collins, SJ, is an adjunct professor at Australian
Catholic University and a research fellow at the University of
Divinity in Melbourne. He taught at the Gregorian University in
Rome for thirty-three years and is well known as a lecturer and
broadcaster around the world. Fr. O'Collins has had hundreds of
articles published in professional and popular journals and
authored or co-authored sixty-seven books, including The Second
Vatican Council: Message and Meaning (Liturgical Press, 2014).
John Wilkins edited the London-based international Catholic
weekly The Tablet from 1982 until his retirement in 2003.
"At last we have a comprehensive treatment of the sad history of
the Vatican's dismantling of ICEL's efforts at providing us with
translations that are both elegant and communicative. My favorite
line: `Before I die, I would be delighted to celebrate once again
the Eucharist in my native language.' This book provides trenchant
criticism of the current translation of the Roman Missal and
wonderful observations on the 1998 `Missal that wasn't.' As in so
many areas of contemporary theology, we are once again in
O'Collins's debt."John F. Baldovin, SJ, Professor of Historical and
Liturgical Theology, Boston College School of Theology &
Ministry
"Here is a required book for any class in contemporary Roman
Catholic eucharistic liturgy today. O'Collins narrates the rise and
fall of the 1998 ICEL translation of the Roman Missal and its
replacement by the 2010 `translation.' Together with ample
references to the best in contemporary liturgical scholarship and
official documents-including Comme le prevoit and Liturgiam
authenticam-O'Collins calls for the end of the 2010 text with its
impossible syntax and forced `sacral language' in favor of an
official recognition of the 1998 text. With serious ecumenical
implications as well (especially with regard to what were common
texts of the Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei), this
book needs to be read by all in light of Pope Francis's call for a
reevaluation of Liturgiam authenticam. May O'Collins's hope be
realized and may the 2010 text become but a footnote in the history
of the Roman Rite."Maxwell E. Johnson, University of Notre Dame
"Authoritative, well detailed, and searingly honest, this account
of the recent history of Vatican translation policy and its
devastating effect on the current English version of the Roman
Missal needs to be read by any liturgy scholar, teacher, or
presider who uses these texts or, indeed, tries to explain them.
O'Collins and Wilkins bring a wealth of experience and insight into
the story of the process, the high quality of the 1998 material,
and the most evident problems and contradictions in the texts that
English-speaking Catholics hear and repeat every Sunday.
"The timing of this publication, as it happens, could not have been
better. The role of the bishops in taking primary responsibility
for the liturgical texts authorized for use in their own countries
and linguistic communities is now consistent with that envisioned
at Vatican II. New reasons for hope for a truly vernacular and
participative liturgy."Susan Roll, Saint Paul University, Ottawa,
Canada
"This short but impressively researched book opens with Wilkins's
page-turning account of how we got from Vatican II's Sacrosanctum
Concilium and the call for translations that facilitate `full
active participation' the 2010 English translation. As O'Collins
painstakingly notes throughout the book, major contradictions exist
between what the CDW and Vox Clara claim to have accomplished as
set out in the directives of Litugiam Authenticam and the
translation as it exists. It isn't too late to reclaim liturgical
language that is more prayerful, understandable and theologically
sound."America
"This text is enlightening and sheds a bright light on governance
struggles within the universal Church, both sides claiming to know
what is best for the faithful."Catholic Library World
"This is a well-reasoned, concise argument for a truly vernacular
translation of the Roman Missal. The argument is based on
principles as old as those proposed by St. Jerome and on recent
ecclesiastical history from the Second Vatican Council to the most
recent translation of the Roman Missal into English."Catholic Press
Association award, second place
"This book should be required reading for bishops and for any
serious student of the liturgy. We owe a great debt to both
O'Collins and Wilkins for setting the record straight—and for
holding out the possibility that one day, by returning to the 1998
translation, we might pray in English."Worship
"The book is a vital contribution to the exploration of an
incredibly vexed set of issues. It opens the way for a thorough
examination of the effects of the controversy on the ecclesia
itself."Australasian Catholic Record
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