The new translation of the Roman Missal launched yesterday without any of the dire forecasts about it coming to pass. At St. Apollinaris Catholic Church in Napa, California–my parish–there were a few missteps here and there, but nothing you would not reasonably expect in a congregation of people who have for forty years been praying a certain translation of the Church’s prayers.
I just got in from 7 AM Mass and I can report no major problems on Day Two. In six months, we’ll forget how we used to pray the prayers. Time to move on and focus more now on what is being prayed rather than the “new” way we’re praying.
One note: I overheard a lady coming out of Mass saying how she did not realize “we were going back to the old prayers.” But of course we haven’t “gone back” to “old prayers”; we’re simply praying what the liturgy of the Church has been all along. It was an inaccurate translation that hid this from us for decades.
Onward with Advent!
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