Mass must be brought into the modern day

I NOTE that in the debate regarding change in the translation of the Lord’s Prayer advocated by Pope Francis, the Rev Thomas Murray, the Free Presbyterian Church moderator, is keeping the old flag flying high: “I disagree with the Pope on most things.”

Professor Gordon Campbell shows a better understanding of the case made by the Pope by pointing out the difficulty which can arise when a text passes through a series of translations, namely that the original meaning can be lost.

A translation can, in time, become archaic. The need to look at the English translation of the Lord’s Prayer is only the tip of a huge Catholic iceberg. I hope the Pope’s call is the start of a reassessment of the translations in the English Mass. Many of these are simply woeful, clumsy, unclear and at times grammatically unsound.

A modern translation of the liturgy was abandoned in favour of wording that is meaningless to most people.

Unintelligible readings are part of the reason for a fall in attendance at Mass, particularly among young Catholics.

Moreover, the dogmatic choice of readings taken exclusively from the Bible ignores almost 2,000 years of Christian wisdom and insight.

An opportunity to deepen people’s faith through the liturgy is being lost.

FIDELIS Londonderry