MASS CONFUSION? CHURCH TO TACKLE TRANSLATION ISSUE.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

Some of the prayers and responses memorized by America's Roman Catholics over the past four decades could be changed under a controversial plan to create a more accurate translation of the Latin Mass.

The revisions to be debated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who will gather today in Los Angeles, represent the biggest changes to the Mass since those that followed the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Heeding a 2001 directive approved by the late Pope John Paul II to correct errors and omissions in the language of public worship worldwide -- and following years of complaints from a segment of Catholics that the English-language Mass became a watered-down, Protestantized version of the Latin it replaced -- the proposed revisions are intended to reflect a more precise translation from the Latin.

``The idea was to make sure the translation that was used is as close to the Latin as possible -- a more literal translation for the Latin,'' said Bishop Gerald Wilkerson, head of the church's San Fernando Pastoral Region.

``The previous translations after Vatican II were (based on) principles that were different. The principles were that it should be an equivalent translation. It wouldn't have to be a literal translation.''

Under the proposals, the exchange between priest and congregation of ``The Lord be with you / And also with you'' would become ``The Lord be with you / And with your spirit.''

That change is a translation of the earlier Latin: ``Dominus vobiscum / Et cum spiritu tuo.''

Spanish-language Masses, celebrated in Catholic churches all around Southern California, say ``And with your spirit'' -- ``y con tu espiritu.''

The profession of faith that summarizes Catholic doctrine now starts: ``We believe ...'' The new proposal is to say, ``I believe,'' as the Latin prayer started with ``Credo,'' or ``I believe.''

The proposed revisions are to be voted on by some 250 bishops and cardinals at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spring meeting, a three-day gathering at the Millennium Biltmore hotel.

The proposals have previously come before the bishops and have been sent back for revisions, and there is no guarantee they will be approved this time.

Approval requires a two-thirds vote from the bishops.

Wilkerson, who will be among those voting, said he finds no fault with some of the proposed revisions, but that others as written now are unclear or awkward.

One problem, Wilkerson said, is that the revisions are being done for English-speaking peoples around the world. Bishops for England, Wales and Australia have already adopted similar revisions.

``The way the British say things is not always the way Americans say things,'' Wilkerson said.

If the changes are approved, Catholics will need to relearn the familiar prayers and responses they say every Sunday.

``I think after 35 or 40 years most of us have memorized most of the responses at Mass,'' Wilkerson said. ``If this is passed ... we'll have to have a book. The phrases change.''

Some think changing decades-old prayers will only upset rank-and-file Catholics, who over the past few years have already seen priests and former priests hauled into court to face child-molestation charges and who overwhelmingly feel comfortable with the existing prayers.

``The people in the pews are going to scratch their heads and say: `What? Why?''' said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest who is a former editor of the Jesuits' America magazine and has written books on the Catholic Church's organization and politics.

``There is nothing heretical about what is said right now. They're not going to be more beautiful. In fact, they're going to be more confusing.''

The present translations were prepared 40 years ago with input from bishops, translators and even poets, he said. He predicted that bishops who vote for the revisions will do so not out of belief they are an improvement, but out of loyalty and respect for the Vatican.

For Catholics old enough to remember the switch from Latin some 40 years ago, Reese said, ``You're going to have to tell them, `We did it wrong the first time.' This is not something the church in the United States needs today.''

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: Associated Press