WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catechetical preparation to implement the new translation of the Roman Missal next Advent is proceeding in U.S. parishes “with much enthusiasm and wide acceptance by both clergy and laity,” according to the outgoing head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship.

Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., who concluded a three-year term as chairman at the close of the bishops’ fall general assembly Nov. 15-18 in Baltimore, affirmed the timeline for implementation of the new missal and disputed what he called “a report surfaced through some segments of the Catholic press.”

The 36-page report, whose source has not been made public, is titled “Areas of Difficulty in the Received Text of the Missal” and cites what it said are problems of mistranslation, omission and repetition in the missal translation that received recognitio (confirmation) from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments in August.

The report is believed to have been sent to English-speaking bishops’ conferences around the world.

“The critique that has circulated has necessarily failed to take into account the final version of the text, which incorporates some corrections issued by the congregation since transmittal of the full text to the English-speaking conferences of bishops,” Bishop Serratelli said in a Nov. 18 statement.

In addition, he said, the final review and copy-editing process has uncovered “some minor questions of consistency, typographical errors and layout” that are being addressed by the congregation.

“As the work of editing and assembling nears completion, there is assurance that the published text will be available in more than ample time for implementation in Advent 2011,” Bishop Serratelli said.

He said he issued the statement in hopes that it would “clarify the situation and, in so doing, give us the calm needed to welcome and implement the new text.”
Bishop Serratelli said that in addition to enthusiasm and acceptance, he has found “an attitude of openness and readiness to receive the new text” in the U.S. church.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced Aug. 20 that the “third typical edition” of the Roman Missal would go into use at English-language Masses in the United States on Nov. 27, 2011.

“From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America,” the cardinal said in a decree of promulgation for the missal.

Announced by Pope John Paul II in 2000 and first published in Latin in 2002, the missal is the book of prayers used in the worship in the Latin-rite church. It underwent a lengthy and rigorous translation process through the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, followed by sometimes heated discussions over particular wording at USCCB meetings during much of the past decade.

Other English-speaking bishops’ conferences went through a similar process and submitted recommended changes to the Vatican congregation.

Bishop Serratelli, who was succeeded by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans succeeded as chairman of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, said the congregation and the Vox Clara committee that advises it on matters related to the translation of Latin liturgical texts into English “incorporated many of the suggestions of the various conferences (including our own), combined with their own review and changes, and put forth the final text.”