Washington D.C., Dec 14, 2008 / 19:04 pm
New resources for Spanish-speaking Catholics have been added to the web page of the Committee of Divine Worship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to help them understand and prepare for revisions to be implemented in the Roman Missal.
The materials were published on December 12 to coincide with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Some of the changes to the Roman Missal will not affect the Spanish translation. However, Bishop Arthur Serratelli, chairman of the committee, said in an introductory letter that it wanted to offer materials in Spanish “to aid those responsible to present the changes in the English edition of the Roman Missal to Spanish speakers.”
The entire English text of the Ordo Missae is presented on the web site “for study and formation only,” a USCCB press release stated.
The text “will only be promulgated for use in the celebration of the Mass upon the approval of the full revised text of the Roman Missal, which can still take several years.”
The Spanish-language supplementary materials include an overview of educational materials in development; responses to frequently asked questions; a collection of translated articles from past newsletters on the Roman Missal translation; tables highlighting changes in the texts; and links to other sources.
Specific questions are addressed in the materials, such as why the Latin phrase “pro multis” should be translated as “for many” and not “for all.”
Translation of the Roman Missal into Spanish is also underway, and the USCCB plans to produce a Spanish-language text for use in U.S. dioceses.
Missal information, in English and Spanish, is available at the U.S. bishops’ web site at
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/missalformation/