The new translation of the Roman Missal has been in use for one, having come into use on the first Sunday of Advent last year. The new translation was discussed extensively in the month following: (see here, here and here for posts on Vox Nova). Now that we have had one year of experience in the pews, what have been the results? Have people adapted? Have they accepted the new translation?
US Catholic has attempted to quantify the experience by conducting a survey. The results are reported in detail on the second page of the article, but it is clear that there is still substantial division over the new translations, with more than 1/2 of Catholics surveyed reporting dissatisfaction with the new translation, and a lingering bitterness over the process which led to the new translation.
I am interested in hearing about how the implementation has gone in your parishes. For my part, we are using them in our parish, but there is still a great deal of stumbling, and I would say that the volume of responses is still lower. If you listen carefully, you can still hear people using the old responses, though whether accidentally or intentionally is unclear. For my own part I am still not comfortable with the new responses, and while I have gotten used to their latinate constructions, I still cringe at some of collects: their fidelity to the Latin renders them nearly unintelligible in English. And the bishops in Europe are still fighting a rear guard action over the mandated translations, in particular rendering “ad multos” as “for many” instead of “for all.” (Germany, in a divided vote, accepted the mandated translation, but Austria and Italy rejected it. Obviously, discussions continue.)
So please let me know how things are going, and if your sense of the translations has evolved over the year.
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