What is Happening With the Prayers at Mass?


On the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011, Catholic parishes in the United States will begin praying the texts of the Mass using a new English translation of The Roman Missal.


Preparation Schedule - Roman Missal, The New Translation

† What is Happening With the Prayers at Mass?

Sunday, November 27, 2011.

At Masses today, Catholic parishes in the United States are for the first time in about forty years using a new English translation of all the prayers. These prayers are found in The Roman Missal, the large book that we are accustomed to seeing the priest use at our Eucharistic liturgies. In the early part of this century, the late Blessed Pope John Paul II called for the original Latin Missal (the official prayer book for Mass for the entire Catholic Church worldwide) to be re-translated into the various languages prayed throughout the world. In particular, he and other Church leaders felt that the English translation could be improved. He called for new translations that would be much more like the Latin texts upon which they are based, so that all Catholics throughout the world would become more closely united by praying translations that were closer to the original. The words that we pray at Mass express our beliefs; it is important that the translations capture and express these beliefs clearly. The translation process has come to a culmination now, and today we begin using this new translation at Mass.