Paris - It took the French church decades of discussion to change one phrase in its translation of the Lord's Prayer. Meanwhile, the French re-translation of the missal is still delayed.
Eminent Jesuit theologian Fr. Gerald O'Collins has appealed to every English-speaking episcopal conference in the church to seize the moment, dust off the 1998 English translation of the Roman Missal and substitute it for the contentious and clunky 2010 translation.
If the pope's actions surprise us, it is because, five decades out, there remains a substantial gap between the council's reformist agenda and its concrete realization in the church.
In an interview with NCR Oct. 24, Cardinal Donald Wuerl said: "The council clearly said this was the responsibility of the bishops, these translations — in communion, obviously, with Peter."
