Online Edition – June 2005

Vol. XI, No. 4

Tenth Anniversary Edition

Comments on Liturgiam Authenticam

“It is somewhat more restrictive … but it is the result of the testing of time over these 30 years that has shown some inadequacies…” — Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb, Chairman of the BCL, June 2001

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“The Authentic Liturgy is truly an embarrassment. What can be done? The church has in its possession a blemished but authoritative document released by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments and approved by the Holy Father. It is not realistic to expect that it will be rescinded”. — Bishop Donald Trautman, America magazine, October 22, 2001

Please Note! Quotation Correction was published in the September 2005 issue of the Adoremus Bulletin.

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“Call To Action and other progressive Catholics, including clergy and lay people, say the language of Liturgiam Authenticam is a slap in the face to Catholics worldwide … they see the Vatican document as a way the Roman Curia is continuing to clamp down and control the English-speaking world of Catholicism, including the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has made strides forward in liturgical, church and social justice issues”.

— Statement of Call to Action, May 9, 2001

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“Under the guise of fostering a ‘sacred style’ Vatican bureaucrats have upended the understanding of Vatican II as put into practice by bishops from English-speaking countries and an approach to translation personally endorsed by the late Pope Paul VI.

“In this case, certain functionaries, in league with the most reactionary elements in local churches, could not tolerate movement toward inclusive language”.

— National Catholic Reporter editorial, May 25, 2001

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“The claim [in Liturgiam authenticam] that ‘the Church herself must freely decide upon the system of language that will serve her doctrinal mission most effectively’ is breathtaking in its disdain for the actual speech of specific peoples…. This administrative fiat would doom all Catholics to the use of a Bible that fails to live up to the normal requirements of modern biblical scholarship”.

— Catholic Biblical Association Statement, May 2001 (Principal author, Richard Clifford, SJ)

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“I’ve been very clear about my own conviction that the use of inclusive language translations, both in Scripture and in liturgical books, particularly when resulting in more faithful renditions of the original author’s intent, is an obligation for the church. I do not see this as merely a question of option”.

— Bishop Richard Sklba, Milwaukee Catholic Herald, May 21, 2001

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SEE: New Lectionary Review Process Reveals "Inclusivizing" Influence – Again.

SEE: News and Views: BCL Proposes Missal Modifications — ICEL Sends New Missal Draft to Bishops-on CD

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