(Liturgical) Calendar Alert

For all you liturgy-junkies, just a quick heads-up that another Vox Clara convocation begins in Rome on Monday.

The committee on English-language translations has doubled its meeting schedule this year to four sessions, and this one's order of business will be twofold. First up is the initial review on the amended translations of the Order of Mass approved by the episcopal conferences of the United States and Canada since VC last met at the end of May. As the amendments were approved gingerly, it has been said that the recognitio of the revised Order of Mass could be granted by late fall.

Dew, however, is still done.

The gathering -- held at the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments -- will also be briefed on the progress of ICEL's work on the new Proper of Seasons. At its last meeting, Vox Clara reported that its membership "expressed concerns with some of the prayers" contained in the draft Proper, the voluminous seasonal element of the Roman Missal which could encite a battle all its own when it reaches the episcopal conferences for their approval.

In the spring, the committee approved a timetable seeking to ensure "final consideration of [all] ICEL texts by the end of 2007." In a November letter to Vox Clara, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his wish that "the translation into English of the latest edition of the Missale Romanum may soon be completed, so that the faithful throughout the English-speaking world may benefit from the use of liturgical texts accurately rendered in accordance with the norms of the Instruction Liturgiam Authenticam."

Stay tuned.

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