c. 2006 Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES _ At the start of every Roman Catholic Mass, the priest welcomes the congregation with the words, “The Lord be with you.”

But the collective response, “And also with you,” a fixture for nearly 40 years, will soon become “And with your spirit.”

That was one of dozens of word changes to the Catholic Mass approved Thursday (June 15) by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops during their annual spring conference. The changes are the first to the English-translation liturgy since it was introduced more than 35 years ago.

The changes “will affect the worship life of every Catholic in the United States and beyond,” said Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pa., head of the bishops’ liturgy committee. “… These texts are presenting a new richness that we have not always experienced in the past.”

He said the changes are at least a year away from reaching parishes, as formal Vatican approval is needed.

The 173-29 vote on a new English translation for the Catholic Mass is in response to the Vatican’s desire _ expressed formally in 2001 _ for a translation that’s closer to the Latin text formalized in the 16th century.

English translations began after church reforms of the 1960s. Before that, Latin was the only language used.

While the bishops like to present themselves as a unified group on most issues, they have been divided on this one.

Many have expressed concern that parishioners would have a harder time understanding the new translation. They’ve also worried over whether Catholics will wonder whether they have been praying correctly when using the current translation.

Still, the changes, proposed by the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, are not as dramatic as the reform from the Second Vatican Council by which priests now face the congregation rather than the altar when they celebrate Mass.

Most of the changes approved Thursday involved just a few words. Among them:

_ The Act of Penitence, in which Catholics confess they have sinned, will include the lines, “I have sinned greatly, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault,” rather than “I have sinned through my own fault.”

_ The opening of the Nicene Creed, which states the basic elements of Catholic faith, will begin “I believe,” rather than “We believe.”

_ Before Communion, the prayer “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you” will become “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”

Bishops in Australia, Scotland, England and Wales have already accepted new English translations.

Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., who supports the changes, said they are necessary because the English translation now in use focuses too much on “accessibility” and not enough on accuracy.

“For so many years, we got used to a translation that wasn’t totally accurate,” said Serratelli, who speaks Spanish, French, German, Italian and Latin.

He said, as have other defenders of the changes, that since Masses were first translated from Latin, other nations have used the equivalent of “and with your spirit.”

American Catholics who have been saying the response by rote for years now may start thinking more about the actual words, he said.

The changes, Serratelli said, will “require people to pay attention now to what they’re saying. It will require some readjustment.”

No one denies that the new words represent a more literal translation from Latin to English. Rather, the concern of many bishops is that Catholics won’t understand either the new words or the meaning behind the changes.

The vote was conducted on a secret ballot, and while some bishops may not have supported the changes, they voted for them anyway because the Vatican wants a new translation.

Archbishop Arthur Roche, the archbishop of Leeds, England, and head of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, defended the new translation.

In Christianity’s early days, he said, St. Paul would address people by referring to their spirit, not their person. “What is the significance of this? Well, he is addressing someone close to God who has God’s spirit. So when we reply `with your spirit,’ we are indicating that we’re part of a spiritual community, (that) it is God’s spirit that has gathered us together.”

The International Commission on English in the Liturgy also proposed some changes that the American bishops rejected. One, to the Nicene Creed, would have replaced Jesus’ being called “one with God” with Jesus’ being called “consubstantial.”

The Rev. Thomas Reese, author of “A Flock of Shepherds: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops,” said the changes will create more problems than they resolve.

“It’s going to cause chaos in the parishes,” he said. “I feel sorry for the poor parish priests who are going to have to stand up in front of the people and tell them, `The translation, what you’ve been saying for the past 30 years, we’re now going to change.’ People are going to scratch their heads.”

(Jeff Diamant writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.)

KRE/PH END DIAMANT