Los Angeles cardinal says Order of the Mass draft needs major work

Published: 2004-05-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite hopes that English-speaking Catholics soon would have a new translation of Mass prayers, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles said he and many other bishops believe the current draft needs major work. An English draft of the "Ordo Missae," or Order of the Mass, was approved by the episcopal board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy in January, and copies were sent to every Latin-rite bishop in the United States and other English-speaking countries. "I felt that there are a few improvements that are very helpful, but the effort to translate every Latin word into English has not been successful," the cardinal said in a May 11 interview with Catholic News Service. The cardinal was at the Vatican for his "ad limina" visit, which bishops make every five years to report on the status of their dioceses and to hold consultations with Vatican officials.

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