New responses were introduced in all Masses throughout the Parish on Sunday 11th September.  The third edition of the Roman Missal will begin full usage on the first Sunday of Advent, 27^th November.  However, to ease the transition, we begin today with the new words to be used by the congregation.  The missalettes provide the words.  We will follow them during all Masses from today forward.

The most obvious change is the response 'And with your spirit,' replacing 'And also with you'.  There may be a changed lead-in by the priest to a changed congregational response. For example, the invitation to Holy Communion is “Behold the Lamb of God ... blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb” with its response “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

The New Missal: We have been using our current Missal since 1975.  The 2011 edition is necessary for a number of reasons.  Firstly, in recent years some additional texts have been made available.  These include additional Eucharistic Prayers, new Masses of Our Lady and Masses for over twenty new Saints (e.g., Padre Pio, Edith Stein, Maximilian Kolbe).  Secondly, in 2001 the Holy See issued new directives for the translation of the Latin texts. Translators were asked to make the English text follow more closely the original Latin.  They were also asked to strengthen the biblical language and images in the texts and to reintroduce some theological vocabulary that may have been lost over the years.

With patience, perseverance and prayerfulness we will introduce the new Missal and come to love the new responses.  More information can be found on www.liturgy.ie.