The Catholic Biblical
Association of
America
NAB Lectionary Watch
Days from the time the Sunday Lectionary approved by the Bishops was sent to Rome until confirmation was announced: 1,954
Appraisal:
The NAB lectionary, volume one, approved by the United States bishops and now confirmed by Rome, while disappointing in many respects, will be a great improvement over the NAB lectionary currently in use. The biggest plus will be the use of the NAB New Testament as revised in 1986; this revision is a huge advance over the original NAB New Testament of 1970, and in some ways returns to traditional diction (for example, "Magi" are back, "Astrologers" are out; "Amen, Amen, I say to you" is back, "I solemnly assure you" is out). One unfortunate change made in the new lectionary from the Revised NAB New Testament is the substitution of "Christ" for "Messiah" in the gospels and in Acts. "Messiah" is the title or designation of the savior expected by devout Jews of the time; in Greek-speaking Christian circles "Christ" (the Greek translation of "Messiah"), often joined to "Jesus" (Christ Jesus), came to function more as a proper name than as a title, and this is the way most Christians understand it now.The biggest disappointment of the new lectionary is the rejection of the revised NAB Psalter of 1991; this revised Psalter, like the revised New Testament, is a vast improvement over its predecessor; the 1991 Psalter is better in terms of accuracy, smoothness of diction, contemporary vocabulary, rhythm for singing and recitation, and inclusive language. Both the unrevised Psalter and the Old Testament readings, as employed in the new lectionary, have been made somewhat more inclusive in their phraseology than in the old lectionary. The readings from revised New Testament, too, have been rendered somewhat more inclusive than they were in the published version of that work.
Information on publishers who will soon be making Volume 1 of the new lectionary available can now be found under "Additional Links" or by clicking here.
For a more detailed comparison between the old and new lectionaries, and quite a bit of additional information see Lectionaries compared
NAB Lectionary Chronology--Drawn from Catholic News Service and Other Sources
November 1991:
The National Council of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) approved the revised NAB Psalter for liturgical use, and the decision was passed on to Rome for confirmation.-
June 1992:
Text of new Lectionary for Sundays and Feastdays (Volume 1) was proposed to the NCCB for approval. The texts for this Lectionary are drawn from the revised NAB Psalter and the 1986 NAB revised New Testament and the 1970 NAB Old Testament--all texts subject to specific Lectionary revisions for inclusivity and other liturgical concerns. The bishops of the NCCB approved this first volume of the Lectionary. - July 1992: The lectionary approved by the
NCCB in November was sent to Rome for confirmation.
May 1992:
The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments notified the NCCB that the NAB Psalter decision had been confirmed.June 1992:
The NCCB approved the revised NAB weekday Lectionary, which, like the Sunday Lectionary, adapts the older NAB texts for inclusivity and the requirements for liturgical proclamation. The decision was passed on to Rome for confirmation in July 1992.June 1994:
The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments sent NCCB president, in draft form, a decision revoking the 1992 confirmation of the U.S. bishops' decision on liturgical use of the revised NAB Psalter.July 1994:
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments informed the NCCB that the decision to revoke the confirmation of the Psalter previously given came from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.November 1994:
Cardinal-Designate Keeler accepted the Vatican position that their earlier draft letter constituted formal notice of revocation of liturgical use of NAB Psalter. Plans were laid for a meeting between Vatican officials and a group of U.S. bishops and scholars; Keeler expressed the hope that it would lead soon to issuance of a badly needed new Lectionary "in the English currently used in our country."January 1995:
A delegation of bishops and Scripture scholars went to Rome for a meeting on the problem. The consultation was described as "productive," but no details were released.July 12, 1996:
Vatican and U.S. church officials met in mid-July to discuss ongoing work on a revised English-language lectionary. In 1995 the Vatican issued some new norms for biblical translations, which norms have never been made public; later a commission was formed by the Vatican to examine the lectionary. The Vatican issued a brief statement to say that the commission met at the Vatican July 10th to discuss "observations" regarding the proposed lectionary. Bishop Donald Trautman, Chair of the NCCB Bishops Committee on the Liturgy to represent the American bishops; the names of those appointed by the Vatican were not revealed.
December 13, 1996:
In a move unique in the history of the Catholic Church of the United States, the seven active Cardinals went to Rome to ask Vatican officials to conclude the process for confirming the proposed new English-language lectionary based on the NAB; this action was taken at the request of the NCCB Administrative Committee. Cardinal Law stated that "We were unanimous in our recognition of the need for horizontal inclusive language where it does not do violence to the sacred text or to the faith of the Church." Agreement was reached that a working group, including several bishops from the United States and representatives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments, would make a final review early in 1997 and that this "concentrated work" would be concluded as soon as possible. The U.S. Cardinals who participated in the meeting are Bernard F. Law (Boston), John J. O'Connor (New York), James a Hickey (Washington), Roger M. Mahoney (Los Angeles), Anthony J. Bevilacqua (Philadelphia), William H. Keeler (Baltimore), and Adam J. Maida (Detroit).
March 11, 1997:
The NCCB has released details about the meetings which took place in Rome during the last couple of weeks. The Working Group consisted of representatives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the Congregation for Divine Worship. The representatives for the NCCB were Archbishop Hanus, Secretary of the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy, Archbishop William Levada (San Francisco), and Archbishop Justin Rigali (St. Louis). The meetings were chaired by Archbishop J. Francis Stafford (member of the CDF). At the end of the sessions, all participants expressed satisfaction with the results. Assurances were received that the revised draft would in principle be acceptable to the Holy See. Archbishop Hanus will make a detailed report to the NCCB Administrative Committee next week. (From an NCCB New Release, dated March 11, 1997.)
June 19-21, 1997:
At the semi-annual NCCB meeting (in Kansas City) the vote on accepting the new lectionary, composed on the basis of the confidential agreement worked out between three U.S. archbishops and the CDF (see reference to March 11 news release below), was inconclusive; the outcome hinges on the return of mail ballots not yet received. The vote, however, was not on outright acceptance of the lectionary texts but, on an amendment offered by Archbishop Rembert Weakland and modified by Archbishop Justin Rigali, would accept the new text provisionally for five years, with the intent of reviewing the issue after that period. The meeting is reported to have been somewhat stormy, with many bishops expressing strong criticism of the proposed text. See CNS news story "Lectionary fate unsure after bishops' meeting" (6/23/97) and the NCR story of 7/4/97--link given below.
November 10, 1997:
Confirmation of Volume I of the lectionary approved by the bishops in June was announced at the November meeting of the NCCB.
Late August, 1997:
Mail ballots from bishops not present at the June meeting provided margin for approval. Lectionary proposal has been sent to Rome for confirmation.
Resources:
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Criteria for the Evaluation of Inclusive Language Translations of Scriptural Texts Proposed for Liturgical Use. Nov. 15, 1990.
NCR article: "Debate over language lingers; lectionary vote is inconclusive" (July 4, 1997)
It will be a sad day for Catholic biblical scholarship and even a sadder day for the pastoral life for the Church in the United States if the new Lectionary does not incorporate the principles of gender inclusive language. If biblical scholars from the fundamentalist tradition, who clearly revere the literal interpretation of the bible, employ gender inclusive language and Roman Catholics are denied that opportunity, there is not just a liturgical problem, there is an ecclesiological problem of great magnitude. It is the fear of many Catholic Scripture scholars that our new Lectionary will be called "inclusive" but in fact will offer only a tokenism, thus making the Lectionary inferior to existing non-Catholic translations.
From Bishop Donald Trautman,
Former Chairman of the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy.
For full text of address, see below or click here
Roger Cardinal Mahony Pastoral Letter on the Eucharist
Joseph Jensen, "Inclusive Language and the Bible," America, Nov. 5, 1994.
Gerald P. Fogarty, "`The English Used in our Country' Bible Translations for U.S. Catholics," America, March 4, 1995, 10-16.
Richard J. Clifford, "The Bishops, the Bible and Liturgical Language," America, May 27, 1995.
Joseph Jensen, "Watch Your Language! Of Princes and Music Directors,"America, June 8, 1996.
Richard J. Clifford, "The Rocky Road to the New Lectionary," America, August 16, 1997
Most Rev. Donald W. Trautman, S.T.D., S.S.L., "Liturgical and Biblical Texts for the Third Millennium: The Revised Sacramentary and Revised New American Bible Lectionary."
Ronald D. Witherup, A Liturgist's Guide to Inclusive Language (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996).
Apud Dominum misericordia,
et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redemit Israel
ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.