The first Roman Catholic Mass in the English version approved by the bishops of the U.S. was celebrated last week in St. Louis' Kiel Auditorium during the 25th Annual Liturgical Week Conference—and the verdict of most liturgists was: needs work. "We used perhaps 20 translations that were already in existence," says the Rev. Frederick McManus, the new president of the Liturgical Conference. "It's purely experimental and provisional. The whole thing has to be done over." The text should be made "simpler and more meaningful," added Joseph Cardinal Ritter after celebrating one of the four Masses during the conference.
Most criticisms stressed the Mass's "rough spots." Bishop Charles Buswell of Pueblo, Colo., suggested that "we need to get the you-who out of the Gloria," meaning the part that now goes: "You, who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You, who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You, who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us."
In one place where a you-who might help, it is missing. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis has been translated as "Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us." Better grammar might have been to change "take" to "takes." Many Catholic missals say "takest," but the makers of this Mass tried to avoid thee-thy-thou forms. Nevertheless they slipped up: the Lord's Prayer still goes, "Thy kingdom come." Other parts have a ring of transliteration, rather than translation, from Latin. "Priests who translate the Mass have a tendency to use Latin derivatives, whereas Anglo-Saxon is generally shorter and sharper," said one Benedictine monk.
Father Robert W. Hovda of Fargo, N. Dak., a member of the board of directors of the Liturgical Conference, says: "We need to get literary people involved. We have to get poets." But the present version will go into general use in the U.S. on Nov. 29, and it will have to suffice until a more felicitous one can be fashioned.