LI churches begin newly translated Mass

Deacon Gerald Whitfield looked out at a crowd fussing with new prayer cards at Maria Regina Roman Catholic Church in Seaford and reassured parishioners that yesterday's adoption of revisions to centuries-old texts used during Mass was worth it.

"It's with our language, how we praise Jesus Christ, that we get to go where we're going," said Whitfield.

It was a scene that played out around Long Island and the English-speaking world Sunday as Catholic churches began using the new translation of the Roman missal -- the text containing prayers and responses.

The Vatican instituted a new translation of the Mass Missal, and church leaders say it is more faithful to the original Latin. The changes represent the first large-scale translation since the early 1970s, when Latin was abandoned.

The changes were greeted with apprehension, joy and confusion at Long Island churches where parishioners and priests sometimes stumbled through their lines and had their noses buried in translation guides at Sunday Mass.

Maria Regina Msgr. Peter Pflomm said in an interview that the changes would surely lead to "hiccups" that would take months to sort out. He added it will be critical for priests and bishops to "set the tone" in leading Mass, because mistakes from the pulpit could lead to "disunity" in the pews.

Pflomm added: "With changes, the easier you make it for the people, the better."

One of the many changes is in the Mass greeting: When the priest says, "The Lord be with you," the response is now "And with your spirit" instead of "And also with you." In the Nicene Creed, parishioners now say Jesus is "consubstantial with the Father" instead of that Jesus is "one in being with the Father."

Msgr. Andrzej Zglejszewski, who is overseeing the transition for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, has been leading a series of workshops on the "history and significance" of the missal for parishioners. He said some of the changes are daunting for churchgoers, but added that they could lead to a renewal of faith for some -- and a closer examination of liturgy for others.

"People are smiling with new words. Some words are mysterious, like consubstantial," he said. "They will leave with a sense of wonder."

Outside Maria Regina after the service, parishioner Barbara Fiorello, 72, of Massapequa, wasn't so certain.

"I'm older and I don't like changes. They're just little sentences," Fiorello said. "I don't see why they changed it, honestly and truthfully."

At Mass in St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, Bishop Peter Libasci, a proponent of the new language, slowly and clearly enunciated the new words. Parishioners handled the changes with aplomb, though there were a few audibly flubbed lines.

Parishioner George DuPrey of East Rockaway called the changes "closer to what" the original Latin prayers and responses were. "It's time for change," DuPrey said.

Parishioners at St. Anthony of Padua in Rocky Point made a battery of mistakes, but Bishop Emil Wcela reminded everyone that it was a day of learning, said Jane Bonner, 47, a parishioner and Brookhaven Town councilwoman.

"We all messed up. It was all good-natured," she said. "I sympathize with people who are having issues with it."