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'Vox Clara' Committee At Service Of Congregation For Worship
The Vox Clara Committee held its inaugural meeting from 22 to 24 April 2002, in the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The new Committee, established to assist that Congregation in its work related to English-language translations of liturgical texts, is comprised of senior Bishops from around the English-speaking world, so as to reflect the breadth and the diversity of the cultures in which the English language is spoken.
12 Members
In establishing the Committee, the Congregation had also appointed Archbishop George Pell of Sydney, Australia, as Chairman, and Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile, USA, as First Vice-Chairman. During its meeting the Committee additionally elected Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of England as Secretary, Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis, USA, as Treasurer, and Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Agra, India, as Second Vice-Chairman. Other Members of the Committee are Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., of Chicago, USA; Archbishop Peter Kwasi Sarpong of Kumasi, Ghana; Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, USA; Archbishop Kelvin Felix of Castries, St. Lucia; Bishop Colin Campbell of Antigonish, Nova Scotia; Bishop Rolando Tirona, O.C.D., of Malolos, Philippines; and Bishop Philip Boyce, O.C.D., of Raphoe, Ireland. Bishops Campbell, Tirona, and Boyce were unable to attend last week's meeting; Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, while unable to attend personally, was represented at the meeting by Bishop Mark Jabale, O.S.B., of Menevia, Wales.
Goals Of The Committee
Besides being used in liturgical celebrations in many countries throughout the world, liturgical texts in English have sometimes been seen to serve as a point of reference in the preparation of translations from the original texts into many languages especially in Asia, Africa and Oceania. The Vox Clara Committee begins its work amid the hope that it will be able to facilitate the review of English-language liturgical translations by the Congregation in accordance with existing norms, including those contained in the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam, approved by the Holy Father on 20 March 2001. That Instruction treats of the use of vernacular languages in the publication of the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, and provides specific norms for the implementation of n. 36 of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.
At its inaugural meeting the Committee unanimously affirmed "the absolute need for translations of the Roman editions typicae which are precise, theologically faithful and effectively proclaimable". It also acknowledged the important contribution of the "International Commission on English in the Liturgy" (ICEL), which has worked on many of the English-language liturgical translations approved by the Conferences of Bishops and presented for the recognitio of the Holy See in recent years. The Committee added that ICEL now faces a major challenge to renew its Statutes and structures in the light of the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam to send "an unmistakable signal that the goal of achieving good liturgical translations is in sight". Such a renewal of ICEL was seen as one way of ensuring the active participation of the Bishops and their Conferences in the work of liturgical translation, according to the prescriptions of the Council as further specified in subsequent documents of the Holy See.
Papal Message
The personally signed Message that the Members received from the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, on the first day of their meeting, commended them for their pledge as a Committee "to assist the Holy See in expediting the revision and recognitio of these (English-language) translations by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments". The Holy Father expressed the hope that vernacular translations would be revised "in accordance with the norms of the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam", and that reliable translations of the newly released editio typica tertia of the Missale Romanum would be made available to the faithful as quickly as possible. Cardinal Jorge A. Medina Estevez, Prefect of the Congregation, in welcoming the Members and in describing the intended scope of their work, likewise spoke of the recent promulgation of the third Latin edition of the Missale Romanum and the need to proceed to a general revision of the translations of the books of the Roman Liturgy in English according to the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam. On Wednesday, 24 April, the Members and Advisors of the Committee participated in the General Audience in St. Peter's Square and were presented to His Holiness.
During the sessions of the meeting brief presentations were given on a number of topics, and intensive discussions took place. In keeping with its Mandate received from the Congregation, the Committee has begun to review English-language translations of selected elements of the Ordo Missae, and also to prepare a draft ratio translationis, applying certain norms found in the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam more specifically to the English language. The Vox Clara Committee will meet again in November, when the results of this work will be considered.
This item 4367 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
