By now you have no doubt heard that the new translation of the missal has been approved by the Vatican and the implementation date has been set for the First Sunday of Advent 2011. And you are probably also aware the new translation has been controversial. In the August 28, 2010 issue of The Tablet, Philip Endean, SJ, lists a four-step strategy for introducing the new translation to our parishes:

• Acknowledge the wider issues at stake. Some of the issues are not just about correct translation, but also about issues of ecclesiology.
• Acknowledge conflicting concerns. Some choices in translation were made between conflicting goods. A decision for one “good” is not a rejection of the other.

• Recognize that reverence and accessibility are theologically complementary. “If the introduction of a new text can be described as one side ‘winning’ some kind of competition between gospel values, things have gone badly wrong.”
• Only say in public what you actually believe. Parishioners need to hear your authentic voice regarding the new translation. “Defending what you do not believe will be far more harmful to the Church than any public disharmony.”

To read the entire article, click here.

(Thanks to the Pray Tell blog for putting me on to this.)

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See also these related articles:

• The new missal: We wait in joyful hope
• “Christ has died” acclamation will not be an option