© The Associated Press/David Bundy
Richard Fiore of Montgomery, Ala., his son Oscar, mom Vicki, and son Phipps, from left, participate in Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011.
Richard Fiore of Montgomery, Ala., his son Oscar, mom Vicki, and son Phipps, from left, participate in Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011.
"I don't think I said it the right way once," said Matthew Hoover, who attends St. Ann Catholic Church in Clayton, a growing town on the edge of the Raleigh suburbs. "I kept forgetting, and saying the old words."
The Mass itself - the central ritual of the Catholic faith - hasn't changed, but the English translation has, in the largest shakeup to the everyday faith of believers since the upheavals that followed the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. A years-long process of revision and negotiation led to an updated version of the Roman Missal, the text of prayers and instructions for celebrating Mass, which originally was written in Latin. The new translation was rolled out across the English-speaking Catholic world on Sunday after months of preparation.
Mickey Mattox, a professor at Milwaukee's Marquette University, said he was happy with the idea that the bishops wanted the translations as accurate as possible.
Comment: For a fresh view of what Black Friday is all about, read Thanksgiving, or 'Consumer Deathmatch'.