The Y-word revisited

By James Hadley

A parish Facebook post read, “Alleluia! I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart.” I objected that the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the Congregation for Divine Worship have given instruction regarding the use of the tetragrammaton, the Divine Name. I was curtly told that the selection came from the Lectionary. I asked whether it was the Lectionary for Mass currently approved for use in the U.S. Needless to say, the question didn’t go over too well.

I think the most recent instructions are quite sound and I support them. It is out of respect for the Divine Name itself and for our Jewish brothers and sisters that we Catholics don’t utter the tetragrammaton in our liturgical celebrations.

Liturgiam authenticam n. 41c addresses the issue, as does the 2008 CDW instruction (report at USCCB site here). The 2008 CDW instruction states:

1. In liturgical celebrations, in songs and prayers the name of God in the form of the tetragrammaton YHWH is to be neither used nor pronounced.

2. For the translation of the Biblical text in modern languages destined for liturgical usage of the Church, what is already prescribed by n. 41 of the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam is to be followed; the divine tetragrammaton is to be rendered by the equivalent of Adonai/Kyrios: “Lord,” “Signore,” “Seigneur,, “Herr,” “Señor,” etc.

After going to bat for the principle on Facebook and elsewhere, I was chagrinned to hear the tetragrammaton at the opening Mass for the Synod on the Middle East. The French translator used the term during the Holy Father’s homily which refers to the Responsorial Psalm. But the psalm, sung in Italian, used “Signore,” as did the homily (in Italian) of Pope Benedict.

The official Spanish translation of the homily used “Señor,” but the official English translation used “Yaweh.” Since there didn’t seem to be an official French text, the translator used the English version as far as I can tell. Fair enough. In reality the tetragrammaton wasn’t really used in the liturgy. Yet, the English and French translations imply that the Psalm itself, the cantor, and Pope all utilized the Divine Name in the liturgy: “The Responsorial Psalm sings of this reality: ‘Yahweh has made known his saving power,/ revealed his saving justice for the nations to see. /Mindful of his faithful love and his constancy to the House of Israel’ (Ps 98:2-3).”

I’m left to wonder: What “translation of the Biblical text in modern languages, destined for liturgical use” was consulted when preparing the English translation of the homily? Or, what currently mandated lectionary was consulted? Why weren’t the directives of the Holy See followed at the Synod?

James Hadley is a lay oblate of Saint Benedict and PhD student in Liturgical Studies at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland.