Things get weirder with English Catholic lectionaries
The situation with English lectionary for Roman Catholics has gotten weirder.
As we discussed last month, Mark Coleridge, , Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, the chair of the ICPEL English lectionary project wrote:
Some years ago, I was asked to chair a commission which would prepare a new English-language Lectionary, using a modified form of the NRSV and a revised Grail Psalter. That seemed straight-forward enough, and the expectation was that the new Lectionary would be ready for publication at the same time as the Missal.
However, we struck problems with the copyright holders of the NRSV and have had some difficulties in our dealings with the Holy See. All of this so becalmed the project that there is now no hope that the Lectionary or any part of it will appear at the same time as the Missal. In fact, we have decided to move away from the NRSV and to prepare the Lectionary using a modified form of the English Standard Version (ESV), still with the revised Grail Psalter.
On this new basis, the project has progressed well; and the hope now is to have at least the first volume of the Lectionary (Sundays and Solemnities) ready for publication as close as possible to the appearance of the Missal.
The note is not obviously dated, but was written at the end of 2011 – so it likely appeared in late November or early December.
[UPDATE: The web page from where this quote come appears to be inaccurate. Please see this comment below from the SACBC Communications Office.] Meanwhile, in Pretoria, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (which comprises the bishops of Botswana, South Africa, and Swaziland) they have adopted the NRSV are implementing it effective Lent 2012. In a note last updated on November 30, 2011, they write:
Phase 3 of the new translation process will see the introduction of the new Lectionary with its different translation of the Holy Scriptures….
The Catholic version of the New Revised Standard Version (called the Catholic version because it includes the few books of the Bible used since apostolic times by the Catholic Church but excluded by some of the Protestant churches), commonly referred to as the “NRSV”, has been approved by the Catholic Church for some years. The quality of the language and the scholarly accuracy of the translation have contributed to this. In addition, the NRSV has also been gradually adopted by the Anglican, Methodist and Lutheran churches and by a number of other larger Protestant churches. It was decided that the quality of the translation, its wide acceptance by Christians of all denominations (with its consequent contribution to Christian unity) and its scholarly accuracy make it the appropriate translation to use in future.
The English translations of the psalms used during Mass and also during the “Prayer of the Hours” (also known as the Divine Office) have been drawn from a newly revised Grail Edition that has been carefully developed to provide both accuracy and also a rhythmic word pattern that will lend itself to singing, chanting and reciting.
The new Lectionary and the new versions of the Psalms will be introduced in Lent 2012. The Sunday and Daily missals for use by worshippers assisting in the congregation at Mass will also be available in time for Lent 2012.
If the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship (which has approval over lectionary translations) can approve the NRSV for Southern Africa, why not for the ICPEL?
Meanwhile, Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest and the founder of Ignatius Press, has been announcing that several African dioceses will adopt Ignatius’s adapted version of the RSV, the “second Catholic edition” as a lectionary. However, Ignatius has meanwhile discontinued its lectionary and has instead remaindered all copies to one of the new Anglican Ordinariate parishes, which is redistributing the text to other Catholic Anglican Use parishes.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the disparity between the Lectionary and printed Bibles has increased. The US Catholic New American Bible saw a major revision last year – the NABRE or New American Bible Revised Edition. But the approved US lectionary uses a version of the NAB that was never published as a Bible and the disparity is increased with the NABRE.
What is going on? Is the NRSV an acceptable basis for the Catholic lectionary or not? Will Australia and England really turn to the ESV for a lectionary? Has the RSV-2CE really been adopted anywhere in Africa, and if so, who will print RSV-2CE lectionaries? Will we ever see a version of the NAB in which the text of the lectionary matches what parishioners can find in their personal Bibles?
For such an important aspect of the Catholic liturgy, the situation with Catholic lectionaries is perfectly murky. This cannot possibly be a good thing for developing high-quality learning materials and helping lay Catholics who want to study the Bible.
J. K. Gayle
Theophrastus
Craig R. Smith
Suzanne McCarthy
It is quite strange that while there is uniformity with the new Third Roman Missal for all English speaking countries, yet there is still great diversity in the Lectionary. If this continues the way it appears it will, there will likely be no Catholic Bible anywhere that matches exactly what is heard at Mass, particularly with the use of the Revised Grail Psalms.
Why the Revised Grail Pslams? I’m not familiar with them. Why not the Psalms from the NRSV or the NABRE? Are the Grail Psalms that much more “accurate” than say those found in the NRSV or NABRE?
Here are a couple of related posts.
http://catholicbibles.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-initial-thoughts-on-esv-lectionary.html
http://liturgy.co.nz/roman-catholics-to-use-esv/7719
The only explanation offered is that the copyright problem refers to not being able to revise the NRSV away from being gender inclusive. Expiation, the NRSV word, is prefered to the ESV propitiation, but that is not an issue. Gender inclusivity is not appreciated by the vatican??
The Catholic Church has always had an uneasy relationship with the sacred scriptures, especially in relation to the question of the laity reading the same. Of course Rome has a problem with gender inclusive language, as it does with gender inclusive altar servers, and lay and ordained ministries. Ultimately these are questions which are at present on hold. We await – as ever – another Council.
The Comment about the Lectionary for Southern Africa referred to above are a mistake that was only picked up after publication. It is the RSV-2nd Catholic edition and has been approved for English Speaking Africa. It will be published by Paulines Africa. The Lectionaries are being printed and delivery is expected end Jan. Fr Chris Townsend. Office for Communcation and Media – southern African Catholic Bishops Conference
This cannot possibly be a good thing for developing high-quality learning materials and helping lay Catholics who want to study the Bible.
Theophrastus, You make a good point. Wonder what is being purchased and/ or checked out from the libraries? The pew Bible is one thing, and the Vatican and/ or the various leaders of the different Catholic conferences around the world may have their say about lectionaries and readings of the scriptures in mass, but what about for Bible study?
Timothy, yes, it is odd. Another alternative would be to go back to the system of allowing parishes to choose their own lectionaries from Bibles with imprimatur. But I do think that having Bibles that match what is said in Church is a good thing.
Russ, my understanding is that all English language churches have switched to the Revised Grail Psalter as part of the 3rd English Missal.
Suzanne, yes the issue of gender comes up as part of Liturgiam Authenticam. But there are other issues too, including the textual basis of the Deuterocanon and Christological language in the Old Testament. The NRSV has problems on all three fronts. You can read my discussion of the standards yourself here.
homophilosophicus, both this pope and John Paul II have strongly encouraged greater Bible reading and study among the laity.
Father Townsend, your information makes a great deal of sense. Thanks for the update, and I’ll note it in the main post.
Kurk, Catholic Churches usually do not have pew Bibles; instead they have missalettes. But the situation with Catholic study Bibles is rather grim. The two leading contenders are Oxford’s Catholic Study Bible — which was not properly updated with the new NABRE (see here for discussion). Another is the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, which to date only has the New Testament and Genesis available. At the same time, we have seen numerous attractive secular, Protestant, Jewish, and even a few Greek Orthodox Study Bibles released.
Re: Revised Grail Psalms,
You can find them on GIA’s website:
http://www.giamusic.com/sacred_music/RGP/psalmDisplay.cfm
In my parish we’re using the same lectionary (the 1998/2002 version) as before the switch to the new translation of the Roman Missal, and it has the old Psalms. Its been my experience, however, that cantors have wide latitude to use or not use the lectionary Psalms.
The Grail Psalms are used in all the breviaries outside of Africa (Africa got its own breviary a few years ago, and it uses the RGP). The Introductory material to the RGP published by GIA says that they’re going to be the only liturgical psalms for the English language some day soon.
-Francesco
It seems increasingly unlikely that any English speaking Catholic will ever be able to have a
Bible that matches the lectionary they hear at Mass. So, just pick a translation, NABRE, NRSV, or RSV-2CE, and use it. Of course there is that wild cars ESV, but I have a number of questions about it.
Make that ‘wild card’ ESV.
Francesco, my understanding is the same as yours re Revised Grail Psalter.
Timothy, I do not understand why publishers could not negotiate with copyright holders to publish a “Lectionary-equivalent” edition of a Bible that had all the biblical text from the lectionary. The CTS Bible was an example of this (matching the JB-version of the Lectionary), and I guess the RSV-2CE edition is one as well.
I could even imagine a publisher producing a parallel Bible (here, I am using the NAB Lectionary as an example) which, for each section quoted in the lectionary, had both the lectionary and the matching NABRE text. I think you first brought my attention to this UK Bible that had both the NRSV-Catholic Edition and the Grail Psalter.
In fact, I think that there would be a real demand for such a Bible.