This week in my post, I wanted to give special kudos to our courageous, forward-thinking, and wise Bishops, who once again have shown their independence, autonomy, and defiance of Rome, in the face of so much control and manipulation manifested by the Holy Father over the Liturgy. In April of this year, Rome gave approval to the universal English translation of the 3rd edition of the Roman Missal of Paul VI. Just over a week ago, the full approved English text, in digital form, was given to the Bishops.
Since the promulgation of that Missal, Bishops Conferences of English speaking countries around the world have been applying to Rome for recognitio for their own adaptations, for their local regions. For our situation in NZ, our Bishops have wished to have a Maori translation sitting alongside the English, on the same page in the Missal, with the Latin hidden away in the back. Why is this? Because our Bishops know how important cultural concessions are in NZ. They understand the political climate in NZ, and are willing to humbly submit themselves to that particular issue. Well done our Pihopas! They know how our NZ people want and need to have the Maori in the Missal alongside the English, demonstrating how we value the Maori culture in our Liturgy, more than our outdated Latin and Roman traditions. They understand how Maori culture should have a primary place in the expression of our faith; and that modern issues, even political ones like this, should take precedence in our worship and gathering – more than traditional faith expressions which are so out-of-date. This is an issue of social justice in our worship of God, and our Bishops, knowing the situation on the ground here in NZ far better than the Holy Father, have wished to go all the way in their service of our indigenous people, and think that the Maori is much more important than the Latin.
Our Bishops rightly understand that this move will have an enormous impact upon priests, and will draw out from them that hidden desire that they all have to say the Mass in Maori. They rightly see that the thousands in our congregations that love Maori will finally have a chance to hear and celebrate the Mass in the local tongue. Our Bishops wish that our liturgy be a place of cultural expression, and social justice, for those who have suffered and who have been sidelined by injustice. Our liturgy must be a Maori cultural expression, so that it is truly Kiwi, and local, and separate from those in Rome. This must be done so as to show the Maori people that their language is on an equal footing with the English, and more important than the Latin. Thank God for the NZ Bishops who have a proper view towards the liturgy.
There has been a dangerous move in recent times, led by the recent Holy Fathers, of reintroducing the Latin back into our liturgy (which was finally removed after Vatican II), and of going back to older traditional ways, e.g., the antiquated Tridentine Mass. Knowing of these strange moves to have the liturgy in a language that nobody understands, and in a form which manifests medieval theology, our Bishops have decided for an innovative move of placing the Latin at the back of the Missal (where it belongs for them, and so that our priests forget all about it), and of placing the Maori and English at the front, so that the liturgy is truly ‘ours’ and ‘mine’. Thank God our Bishops think according to cultural and personal needs, otherwise the Maori could have found itself relegated to the back of the Missal, like the Latin, or it could have been printed in another book altogether. Imagine the scandal if the Maori were relegated to such an underprivileged position.
But there has been a snag. Rome, as per usual, wants to control the Maori translation of the new edition of the Missal and hasn’t given recognition to the Maori translation, which means that our Bishops can’t print their Missal (with the Maori alongside the English) in time for the Advent introduction that they were hoping for. I don’t understand why they don’t just go ahead and print it anyway, like they did with the Our Father. They brought in the new Our Father without Roman approval, so why can’t they just print the bi-lingual Missal without approval? Because of this Roman delay, we are going to have to wait before we pray the new translation in its fullness. Apparently, due to this issue, only the congregation’s responses will change in Advent (the first Sunday), and all the other prayers will remain as usual.
When will Rome give approval to the Maori? Who knows. It could take up to a year or more. So that means that we will have our beloved Mass in a bi-Missal mixture situation for about a year, where the people’s responses are up-to-date, but the priest’s prayers, the Eucharistic prayers, and many other prayers, remain in limbo waiting for Rome to get going and approve the translation of the Maori. Has the Maori been translated? I don’t quite know.
Why don’t our bishops just go ahead and print the new Missal? They’ve done such things before, and stood up to Rome, and showed them what they really believe. Come NZ Bishops, take up that courage you’ve displayed before and show Rome that you are Bishops in your own right, and control your own liturgy, and are willing to act fully at the service of the Maori cause, and the disappearance of the Latin cause.
I don’t really know why we need the new translation anyway.
Marty
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