At a 9.15am memorial mass yesterday in the Broken Bay diocese (neighbouring diocese to Sydney, Australia), I was surprised to find that the new translation of Eucharistic Prayer III was prayed (without prior announcement that this would be the case). The celebrants\u2019 parts of the prayer were prayed in full according to the new translation, while the assembly responded using the MR2 responses (including the memorial acclamation: Christ has died \u2013 one of the last times this will be heard). The ritual discord caused by this mixture of prayer translations was distracting and was noticed by more people than just the liturgist in the pews.<\/p>\n
In Australia, the bishops made the decision at the national level not to begin using the new translation until Pentecost 2011, at which point the assembly\u2019s responses would be introduced, and later in the year when the published MR3 book is available, the celebrants\u2019 sections of the liturgy will begin being introduced. While Pentecost is only a few weeks off, the fact that this priest appeared to have jumped the gun by praying the new translation of EPIII was disconcerting.<\/p>\n
Perhaps he imagined his choice would pass unnoticed? Perhaps he thought that a small Saturday-morning Mass would offer a good opportunity to get in some \u2018in-ritual\u2019 practice? Perhaps he uses the new translation all the time in his parish now that it has been distributed to all priests in the Broken Bay diocese (presumably for practice purposes rather than \u2018in-ritual\u2019 use yet)?<\/p>\n
Of course, given that the final full version of the new translation is still to be published officially, the question of \u2018which\u2019 version is being used must be asked. As a visitor to this parish and diocese I am uncertain of the answers to these questions. What was certain was that while the principal celebrant prayed the new translation of EPIII quite well, the visiting concelebrant stumbled several times and was clearly uncertain of his sections of the prayer. One wonders whether he had been given any notice of its intended use (or time to prepare to proclaim it) prior to the liturgy.<\/p>\n
There were a few lessons to be learned from this experience.<\/p>\n
At a 9.15am memorial mass yesterday in the Broken Bay diocese (neighbouring diocese to Sydney, Australia), I was surprised to find that the new translation of Eucharistic Prayer III was prayed (without prior announcement that this would be the case). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[104,1427],"class_list":["post-9377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-translation-new-missal","tag-australia","tag-clare-johnson"],"yoast_head":"\n