PRESS RELEASE
19 April 2011
Bishops welcome the new edition of the Missal
The new edition of the Roman Missal will be introduced at Mass from the first Sunday of Advent, 27 November 2011. The changes to the current text that affect the congregation are relatively small in number but Mass will sound different. The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has developed a number of resources to assist the faithful in familiarising themselves with the new text.
These resources are now available on www.catholicbishops.ie and www.liturgy-ireland.ie:
- An information leaflet entitled Introducing the New Missal, which will be available in parishes before the 2nd Sunday of Easter.
- Brief video clips which explain the introduction of the new edition of the Missal, addressing: what is the Roman Missal? Is the Mass changing? Why are we getting a new edition of the new Missal? Is what we have been praying up to now wrong?
From September:
- The text changes for the new the Missal will begin to be introduced in many dioceses at Mass from Sunday, 11 September. Missalette publishers and parish bulletins will include these changes by way of explanatory inserts. These are also available on the websites above.
- Over the ten weeks from 11 September, all the changes in the prayers and responses of the congregation will be used at Mass, for example: the greeting, “The Lord be with you” and response, “And with your spirit”; the Apostles Creed; the longer Nicene Creed; and, the acclamations of the Eucharistic Prayer.
- From 27 November 2011, the First Sunday of Advent, the new edition of the Missal will be used in its entirety for the prayers of the Mass throughout the country and the English speaking world.
New edition of the Roman Missal
The publication of the new edition of the Roman Missal, the book of prayers used at Mass, is an opportunity to deepen our understanding of all that we are doing as we, the Christian community, gather to worship.
The use of a new edition of the Missal is not simply about words or translation. The new Missal will enable us to come to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of the life of the Church. The new text is the result of the work of many people over the past ten years.
Since it was published in 1975, much has been added to the Missal currently prayed at Mass. Bishops welcome the new edition to be published later this year as it will provide Mass prayers, the Masses of our National Calendar and three Eucharistic Prayers which have all been approved since the current edition was published. Some of this material has been available but the new edition gives us an up-to-date Missal.
While the order or structure of the Mass is not changing, and readings remain the same, the edition of the Missal will be in a new translation. It uses new norms for translation which call for a fuller and more faithful translation of the Latin. The new edition of the Missal will bring a freshness and beauty to the language used at worship, capturing the biblical resonances of our prayers more clearly and the rich words and phrases of the prayers, many more than 1200 years old.
Catechesis on the text of the new Missal
Bishops are acutely aware of the impact of these changes in prayers that have been used and loved for almost forty years.
The preparation for the new Missal takes place as we prepare for the International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Ireland in June 2012. Many resources for the Congress will serve as resources for an understanding of the Eucharist and its celebration.
While the new Missal will be used from 27 November next, the changes in the people’s parts will be explained and introduced from September. This is in order to make the change to the New Missal as smooth as possible.
Preparation for the publication and use of the new edition of the Missal has already begun. Our National Centre for Liturgy in Maynooth has conducted workshops for Diocesan teams around the country. This will greatly assist priests and diocesan teams with special responsibility for the preparation and celebration of the Mass. Many dioceses have already scheduled workshops to take place over the next three months.
Explanatory sessions for diocesan and parish liturgy committees, parish and pastoral councils, pastoral workers, diocesan advisers (primary and post-primary), chaplains, those with responsibility and leadership in music will take place at a local level as we prepare to use the Missal towards the end of the year.
The use of the new edition of the Missal towards the end of the year will also mark a continuation of the catechesis that is now underway. It will provide priests and faithful with the opportunity not only to explore further the changes in words but also to continue to make our celebration of the Eucharist ever more reverent and beautiful, as the worship of God in thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus the Lord should be.
Background
The publication and use of a new edition of the Roman Missal is the culmination of a project launched in the Jubilee Year, 2000, when Pope John Paul II announced the third edition of the Missal. The Latin Missale Romanum was published in 2002 and the agency established by Bishops in countries where English is spoken was entrusted with the specialist work of translation.
This agency, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), always intended to revisit the translation given in the Missal we have used since St Patrick’s Day, 1975. Working with norms for translation given in the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam, ICEL began their work in 2002, sending the Missal to bishops’ conferences in twelve segments.
Irish bishops reviewed and commented on each segment, assisted by our Irish Commission for Liturgy. ICEL received the Commission’s detailed comments and those from the other eleven English speaking bishops’ conference it serves.
Revised texts were then placed before the Irish Bishops’ Conference and approved over a period of six years, making it possible last year to forward the complete Missal to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Vatican for its approval or recognitio. The Congregation made changes, ensuring that a common text will be used throughout the English-speaking world. It was assisted in its work by Vox Clara, a committee of senior bishops formed in 2001.
Resources
There are many resources available to support the changes introduced and here is a list of the home produced:
- Become One Body One Spirit in Christ an interactive DVD which explores the depth, richness and layers of meaning of the liturgical texts of the Roman Missal. Produced by Fraynework Multimedia and published by Veritas in September 2010 for Ireland, it is based on five foundational essays which provide the themes and pathways of this resource, using video, text, graphics and music to help the user enrich their understanding and deepen their appreciation of the Eucharist.
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), as approved for the dioceses of Ireland , was published in 2005. It is a translation of the Institutio Generalis issued with the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia in 2002.
- Celebrating the Mystery of Faith is a study guide to the Mass, based on GIRM, put together by a team from the National Centre for Liturgy. It was first published in 2005 and now in an updated reprint. It is a study book for priests, on their own or in groups, for liturgy teams, for ministers of the Word, music and Communion, for parishes and for all who want to better understand thismysterium fidei, the Eucharist.
- The New Missal: Explaining the Changes has been put together by the National Centre for Liturgy to provide an explanation of why we have a new edition of the Missal and to explore the changes to texts that we will experience in a new translation of its prayers.
- Celebrating the Mass throughout the Year has been produced by the National Centre for Liturgy and will be published by Veritas shortly. It offers an overview and commentary on celebrating the Mass throughout the Liturgical Year. Texts like Collects and Prefaces, using the translation of the new edition of the Missal and illustrating our journey through the year, are included.
- O Sacred Banquet is subtitled Revitalising the Sunday Celebration of the Eucharist. Its 28 pages offer a powerful statement on the Eucharist. It was drafted for the Bishops’ Conference by the national Liturgy and Theology Commissions and is based on the sentence of St Leo the Great preaching on the feast of the Ascension: what was in Christ has passed into the mysteries [the liturgy].
- The resources that will be made available as we prepare for the International Eucharistic Congress to be held in June 2012 will also be very helpful.
- Music is integral to our celebration of the Eucharist. Settings for the Mass, with new music and music of well-known Masses adapted to the new translation are being prepared and will be launched at the summer school of the Irish Church Music Association which will take place in Maynooth during July 2011.
Further information:
Catholic Communications Office Maynooth: Martin Long 00353 (0) 86 172 7678
