The local paper’s headline spins the news a bit more negatively than it probably deserves. I rather enjoy the opportunity to look at some familiar words in a fresh light.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer:
(Current Text)
Priest: Let us pray with confidence to the Father in the words our Savior gave us.
(New text)
Priest: At the Savior`s command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say
Some Catholics seeking delay in new translation of the Mass – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Post was last modified on 30 Oct 2011 8:14 pm
I built a model of the two-pronged Starfighter (a really sleek and elegant vehicle that…
Twelfth-grade reading scores are at historic lows, and college professors, even at elite schools, are increasingly…
View Comments
While I agree that it is interesting to see the words in a new light, which may indeed "shake up" congregations, I cannot help but feel that the new translation is clumsy and awkward.
The original words were composed with a particular cadence that suits the words being intoned by a large group. "And / also / with you" is musical (and slightly uplifting -- a cheerful beginning to the ceremony), while "And also with your spirit" is pretty flat and monotonous.
Some of it is also maybe cultural -- the traditional British (and general Northern European) approach to a church service is very solemn, whereas cultures closer to the Mediterranean or Central Europe might allow the expression of more emotion. The passionate "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" might fit well in, say, Italian or Hungarian, but it feels jarring in English.
Perhaps they will link more closely with the intricacies of Catholic theology (of which I am sure most Catholics are unaware anyway), but the new words seem to lose much solemnity and beauty in the process.