Lost in Translation (Part 2)

A Change Of Mood

Liturgiam authenticam replaces Comme le prevoit, a 1969 document that promoted "dynamic equivalence," the principle that one must translate the thought, not the text, even if that means changing the words. From now on, those entrusted with translating the liturgical books, including the Lectionary, Sacramentary, and Psalter, no longer will be able to do free translations or paraphrases, omit key phrases, or add made-up ones. The new norms have engendered all kinds of responses about how far translators will be able to go.

"In the area of liturgical change, it will not be business as usual," says Msgr. M. Francis Mannion, director of the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake outside Chicago. "It calls for a fundamental shift away from literary-critical principles of translation derived from the academic world to a framework derived from the tradition of the Church. So the good translator has to be very familiar with the language and vocabulary of the Church fathers and the Catholic doctrinal and spiritual traditions."

"Everyone has to try to translate into the receptor language according to the genius of that language, but following these rules," Archbishop Justin F. Rigali of St. Louis says. The instruction is meant to help people have a greater participation in the liturgy, says the archbishop, who is a member of both the BCL and the CDW. Fidelity to the original does not mean a "slavish translation," he says. But "we can't reconstruct things as we view them at a given moment."

Rev. John H. Burton, executive director of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, suggests that "the reality needs to be between" literal, word-for-word translation and translating the "unit of meaning."

"Language keeps changing, and so does our understanding of words," so translations need constant adjustment, says Father Burton, who sits on the BCL.

"The question comes down to, how do we pray in the living language?" says John Page, executive secretary of the ICEL in Washington, DC.

The new instruction states: "The greatest prudence and attention are required in the preparation of liturgical books marked by sound doctrine, which are exact in wording, free from all ideological influence and otherwise endowed with those qualities by which the sacred mysteries of salvation and the indefectible faith of the Church are efficaciously transmitted by means of human language to prayer, and worthy worship is offered to God the most high."

If Liturgiam authenticam is implemented faithfully and enthusiastically, it will have far-reaching effects. Edward T. Snyder, former U.S. delegate to CIEL, speculates that the sublime language that could be produced would appeal to both young people and non-Catholics and lead them to a deeper embrace of the faith. And if the text is sung, "it will blow people away," Snyder said, adding that he hopes Rome is encouraging the development of a "classical" form of the liturgy that could last unchanged for centuries.

His hope finds expression in the document itself, which says that liturgical texts should be "free of an overly servile adherence to prevailing modes of expression" and that texts become memorable when they differ from everyday speech. Observance of the new principles, the instruction states, will contribute to the "gradual development in each vernacular of a sacred style that will come to be recognized as proper to liturgical language." These principles should "free the liturgy from the necessity of frequent revisions when modes of expression may have passed out of popular usage."

Monsignor Mannion notes the emphasis in Liturgiam authenticam on a "sacred" language for the liturgy. "Liturgical language must have qualities of reverence, exaltedness, and humility," he says. "The terse, businesslike 'memo' form of address to God that we have become familiar with will be replaced, if the document is implemented, with modes of address that recognize God's majesty, power, and grandeur."

Robert J. Edgeworth, professor of classics at Louisiana State University, agrees, pointing out that ICEL's translations "habitually address the Master of the Universe in the imperative mood." He parodies the tendency: "Do this, Lord, and do that, too — and make it snappy." The ICEL translations are, for the most part, "very pedestrian." They don't "lift people's minds up to God."