New Roman Missal Review

It has now been several weeks since the introduction of the new roman missal and the reception

seems to be rather sporadic all across the board. Some seem to have jumped on right away and almost have the roman missal third edition memorized and perfected. Others, such as myself, struggle very much with the new roman missal even with the pamphlets and laminated flyers which are very helpful.

Altogether though, it seems that most are at least trying to learn the roman missal third edition. After the introduction of the new roman missal, many newspapers had articles on the missal and its reception by the Catholic community. The Charlotte Observer, the main newspaper of Charlotte, had an article on the reception which was rather bias. Most of the interviews included in the article were from people whom were completely opposed to the roman missal third edition. I hope that that is not an accurate representation of the Catholic community but rather a bias of the journalist. What do you think?

I think that we can all agree that the new roman missal addressed serious concerns. With a standardized English missal we can have a more universal English liturgy and assist the other missals which are now translated from the roman missal third edition instead of different English translations of the roman missal which existed in the past. The new roman missal is also a much better translation of the original Latin roman missal. My Latin professor at Belmont Abbey College informed the class that the roman missal third edition is something he has been waiting on for twenty years. Switching our minds to saying new responses during the Mass is not easy but nonetheless necessary and important to reestablishing integrity with the original Latin roman missal.

One of the biggest surprises that has come out of the new roman missal for me is dialogue said by the priest. Prior to the introduction of the roman missal third edition I already knew from different seminars, articles, etc. that many responses of the community to the priest were being changed but few if any of these articles focused let alone mentioned the changes in what is said by the priest. Therefore, those changes caught me off guard and caught my attention which has resulted in it being much easier for me to focus on the words of the Mass. Many others have stated that they have felt the same way which I think is a great thing to come out of having a new roman missal.

The new roman missal is here to stay and I think that we should do our best to learn the new missal as diligently as we can. One of my friends told me that if one were to go to mass every day they would know the roman missal third edition in about a month. They also said that if one went only once a week then it would take at least three months to know the new roman missal translation. Lastly, he said that if one were to only attend Mass twice a year then it would take over thirty years to know the new translation. I think this reminds all of us that we should attend mass as much as we can for many reasons including trying to learn the new roman missal diligently.