Maui Catholics Ring In The New Year With Historical Changes To Liturgy

On Sunday, Nov. 27 (the first Sunday of Advent and beginning of the new Liturgical year), the world's English-speaking Catholics experienced church in a whole new way. With translations more true to the Latin texts originally used by the Catholic Church, the Third Edition of the Roman Missal noticeably changed the way Mass has sounded for over four decades.

"I think it's exciting," said Father Terrence Watanabe of St. Theresa Church in Kihei.

But not everyone shared his sentiment. "I think it's unnecessary," said one woman, who attends St. Anthony Church in Wailuku. "There's no reason to change and I will keep saying what I have always said, because that is what I was taught."

Each week, Catholics celebrate Mass, the spiritual reenactment of the events of the Last Supper, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Mass progresses in familiar parts, from gathering to storytelling, then meal sharing and commission. This progression, or Liturgy, never changes, nor does the meaning behind the rituals of Mass.

"The Mass itself [and] the meaning of the Mass can never, ever change, it's just the verbal part of the Mass," explained Sister Angie Laurenzo of Christ the King Church in Kahului.

The verbal part of the Mass comes from the Roman Missal, the book that contains the actual prayer texts and responses that are said and heard during Mass. The Missal also contains the general instructions of how to celebrate Mass, as well as rubrics that direct what should be done at specific points.

Preparations had been underway since the text of the new edition gained final approval by Pope Benedict XVI last April. The Honolulu Diocese, which oversees the Roman Catholic churches in Hawai‘i, actively worked to train clergy members and produce materials for distribution to parishes in order to make the transition to the new text smoother.

According to Father Terry, clergy members attended a two-day workshop on O‘ahu where they received resources from the Diocese in order to prepare parishioners for the changes.

From the beginning, the clergy was encouraged to openly discuss the changes and develop education plans. "[We] started preparing the congregation in August," said Father Terry, explaining that sections of the Mass were discussed and practiced one Sunday every month from August to November. The church also bought cards for parishioners to take home and practice with; while other cards were left in pews for use during Mass. Other Catholic churches followed similar plans.

In response to the introduction of the new Roman Missal, Damien Carbonel, a member of Holy Rosary in Paia, stated that introducing new language into mass is "too much changing." He went on to say that "the elderly [are] not going to change… they are going to try, but [in the end] they are not going to change."

When asked about the reason behind the new translation, Sister Laurenzo posed the question, "How do angels relate to God, speak to God? Through their intelligence, so they use the highest form of communication they can because they understand what these words mean. So the church now wants people to understand who God is through this new phrasing."

Re-translating is not a new idea. In fact, up until the early 1970s, the Catholic Mass was said completely in Latin—the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn't until the Second Vatican Council approved the use of vernacular language in the Liturgy that an English translation of the Roman Missal was available.

Since its inception, improvement on the English version had been in the works. "The first edition was done quickly," Father Terry said, "[the] second edition was only in Latin and never translated to English because the announcement of the third edition was made. When they translated it the first time, they wanted it to be more like the way we speak; now they want it to sound more sacred, sound a little bit more uplifting."

Once it was granted final approval, publication of the third edition of the Roman Missal began.

Tracy Feliciano of Holy Rosary's parish clearly stated, "I don't like it," when asked about the new language. "It's difficult to re-learn," she said, explaining that she was "used to knowing the prayers," and that "the key words that were changed don't change the meanings so it [the changes] don't matter."

But, Winona Martinez, principal of the St. Anthony Grade School and member of St. Rita in Haiku said that "the language sounds similar to the way she remembers Mass being said when she was a child."

Only time will tell how long it will take for Maui Catholics to warm up to the new language of Mass. Sister Angie stated, "whether the people are understanding it or they're going to accept it, only God knows."

The only thing certain at this point is that these changes are here to stay—at least for now.