LOS ANGELES, June 15 (UPI) -- U.S. bishops are considering a new translation of the Latin mass intended to be more faithful to the original and to follow Vatican guidelines set in 2001.
The text needs a two-thirds majority of the bishops conference gathered in Los Angeles. Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pa. -- who chairs the committee on the liturgy and is not happy with the new text -- told the Chicago Tribune that an internal poll shows 52 percent of bishops like the translation while 47 percent say it is fair or poor.
Critics say the translation uses archaic language unfamiliar to modern churchgoers. Some bishops also fear that, whatever the merits of the translation, Catholics should be left with familiar rituals while the church recovers from the clergy sex abuse scandal.
The bishops may not have much choice. Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship, said in a letter to the bishops' conference that the U.S. church must amend its liturgy.
