New committee for translations. (News in Brief).

Vatican City--On April 25, 2002, Pope John Paul sent a letter to the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, confirming a new committee for liturgical translations into English called Vox Clara (clear voice). Its first task is to see to it that the translation of the just published Latin Missale Romanum be done properly, that is, no longer according to the old rules of ICEL (International Committee for the English language), but according to the new rules of Liturgiam authenticam (for LA, see C.I., July/Aug, Nov, and Dec, 2001):

"Fidelity to the rites and texts of the liturgy is of paramount importance for the Church and the Christian life," the Pope wrote.

Chairman of the Committee is Archbishop George Pell of Sydney, Australia. Members include four bishops from the U.S.: Oscar Lipscomb, Mobile, Alabama; Cardinal Francis George of Chicago; Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans; and Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis. One comes from Canada, Bishop Cohn Campbell of Antigonish, N.S.; plus Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of England, and one each from Ireland, India, Ghana, the Philippines, and St. Lucia.

Comment:

Critics, such as the Jesuit Professor of Liturgy iii Rome, Keith Pecklers, warned that the Vox Clara committee had better not bypass ICEL because that would raise questions "about collegiality."

Actually, as Archbishop Pell pointed out, the intention is not to bypass ICEL at all but to have its members--some of them no doubt new translators--follow the reformed guidelines for translation, ending the distortions and mistranslations of the earlier efforts.