Sunday 28 August 2011

Old ICEL RIP...

I have to confess to feeling a little bit strange, knowing that tonight was the last time we shall use the old ICEL translation for the responses at Sunday Mass (still a few more days until September).

Don't misunderstand me, I am absolutely delighted that the "lame-duck translations" (as the inimitable Fr. Z terms them) have finally shuffled off this mortal coil. We have had the new translation of the Canon for a while, and it is a vast improvement. I have been mentally responding "And with your Spirit" to help get myself accustomed to the changes. And I shall make an extra effort to attend the 6pm Mass next Sunday so as to usher in the new responses.

But part of me is experiencing a pang. Not a pang of regret. Definitely not! A lot of people feel uncomfortable with change, and "Better the devil you know" is a saying most people can relate to, but it isn't even that - the new translation is such an improvement, that I am eager to use it. I guess that it is just the realisation that we are witnessing the end of an era. The old translation is the only one I've known (at least it was, before I encountered the Extraordinary Form of Mass), and I didn't need to read the responses from a missal or mass sheet...

As I said, it's just a little... strange!

(Oh, and before you say anything, yes, I know the photo is of the Divine Office, but the shoddy workmanship of that liturgical book rather exemplifies the state of the old ICEL translation!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh jeepers - when I'm in the UK again I'll not be able to follow Mass without a book anymore!

Well, there's a solution to that, I suppose >:)

Jonathan Marshall said...

And - even better - no more "Clapping Gloria"!

When that was announced on Sunday I, like "all the ranks of Tuscany", could scarce forbear to cheer.

In fact I did (quietly) - and got a nasty dig in the ribs from Mrs Rusticus as a result

Zephyrinus said...

What ?

No more "Clapping Gloria" ?

" OH, NO !!! "

Diamantina, aka Gentillylace said...

Meanwhile, we in the US will have to wait till the first Sunday of Advent for the new translations to be implemented. The parish of which I am a member is having workshops on the new translation of the Mass this month, and workshops on the new liturgical music in November. I think it will seem strange, since the ICEL translation is the only version of the Mass I have ever known, but I am looking forward to it.

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