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Detroit – Not only is a newly-approved translation to the English Mass more closely aligned with original Latin text, but the changes also provide an opportunity to educate and catechize people to help them understand the liturgy better, said Dan McAfee, Archdiocese of Detroit's director of Christian Worship.

"This is an opportunity for us to deepen our faith, to understand what we are doing a little bit more," he said. "Any time we change the way people pray, it's going to have a big effect on people."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a new English translation of the Order of Mass and adopted several U.S. adaptations during a national meeting June 15 in Los Angeles.

The new translation of the main constant parts of the Mass – penitential rite, Gloria, Creed, eucharistic prayers, eucharistic acclamations, Our Father and other prayers and responses used daily – will likely be introduced in about a year or two if it is approved by the Vatican.

Some of the changes people will see when the new version eventually takes effect will be:

• Whenever the priest says "The Lord be with you," the people will respond "And with your spirit." The current response is "And also with you."
• In the first form of the penitential rite, the people will confess that "I have sinned greatly ... through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." In the current version, that part of the prayer is much shorter: "I have sinned through my own fault."
• The Nicene Creed will begin "I believe" instead of "We believe" – a translation of the Latin text instead of the original Greek text.

During the offertory prayers, the priest will pray that "the sacrifice which is mine and yours will be acceptable" instead of the current prayer that "our sacrifice will be acceptable."

Before the preface, when the priest says "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God," instead of saying "It is right to give him thanks and praise," the people will respond "It is right and just."

• The Sanctus will start "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts." The current version says "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might."

Bishop Donald W. Trautman told journalists after the bishops' vote that when the new Mass text is eventually made official in the United States "I believe it will affect the liturgical life of every Catholic."

He predicted that the bishops will treat the occasion as "a major catechetical moment" to try to educate Catholics about the changes and to seek ways to get Catholics to understand and accept the changes in a constructive way that helps them deepen their appreciation of the liturgy.

McAfee said although humans are resistant to change, the new translation could be a good opportunity for people to think about how they pray and what they are saying during Mass, instead of reciting words by rote. The translations after the Second Vatican Council were done quickly, he explained, so the concern was likely more about how the Mass could be easily understood.

"Some of the poetry was lost," he said. "Some of the accuracy was lost."

Sr. Georgette Zalewska, RSM, the archdiocese's Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults director, said translating a text from Latin, not commonly used, into a language that people use every day is a difficult process. "Whenever we pray, we are expressing what we believe," she said. "The Church is always concerned that we are actually using words that express what we believe."

"One of the concerns the Church has is that the language we use when we pray formally as a community is worthy of using when we communicate with God."

McAfee said the Church is finding that English is the universal language in which we live, and for some countries who are unable to translate to their language from Latin, they use the English text. By aligning the English Mass as close to Latin as possible, there's less chance translations will be two or three steps away, McAfee said.

Sr. Zalewska pointed out that any two English-speaking countries don't speak exactly the same language, as they'll use some different words or phrases. The new language unites English-speaking Masses with one common language, she said.

The words parishioners say in the pew will be slightly affected, and the translation will likely affect some liturgical music, too, as fewer or more syllables will have to be accommodated into the music, McAfee said. "It's going to be work, but it's going to be worth it, too," he said.

The text that the bishops approved included only the main parts of the Order of Mass, the daily prayers with which people are most familiar.

The bishops still have to receive and approve other parts of the Order of Mass, such as the prefaces, and the major portion of the Roman Missal comprising the proper prayers for each Sunday or feast throughout the year. These are still in the early stages of translation and consultation among English-speaking bishops around the world.

When the new translation of the texts the bishops adopted in Los Angeles takes effect, with possible Vatican modifications, U.S. Catholics will find that many of the familiar prayers and responses they have been using at Mass for the past 35 years or so will be changed.

After approving more than 60 amendments to the universal English translation of the Latin Order of Mass proposed by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, the bishops approved the revised version by a vote of 173-29. They then approved a set of American adaptations – alternate prayers or ritual instructions not contained in the original Latin version – by a vote of 184-8.

Although only about 80 percent of the 254 Latin-rite bishops in the country were at the Los Angeles meeting, the votes of members in attendance were more than enough to meet the two-thirds majority (170) of all the nation's Latin bishops that was required to pass liturgical decisions.

The bishops' actions June 15, the first day of their three-day spring meeting at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, capped years of debate within the U.S. Church and other parts of the English-speaking world over two significantly different approaches to modern-language translations.

- Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic and Jerry Filteau of Catholic News Service contributed to this story.