Shepherd's Notes

"October 16, 2011"

“Use of New English Mass Translation Begins November 27”

Back in February I mentioned about the upcoming new English translation of the Mass. It will be implemented beginning the First Sunday of Advent 2011 (November 27). We will be preaching about the upcoming changes this Sunday and next week. Our Religious Education department is also making available a brief series on the new translation on 4 different occasions beginning October 25. Please check the bulletin titled “A Biblical Walk Through The Mass” for more details.

While there is a new English translation of the Mass, there is no change at all to the structure and order of the Mass. Only the text of the Roman Missal was changed. All the movements and gestures by the priest and congregation remain the same. What is the purpose of the new translation? Shortly after the completion of the Vatican II Council, the official English translators at the time known as ICEL (International Commission for the English Liturgy) decided to make a “dynamic” translation of the official Latin text. This means that a general meaning of the Latin text was translated into English instead of the usual “formal” translation as most of the other countries did. As a result, many liturgists and linguists have noted over the years that the intended fuller meaning of the Mass was not attained and even lost. Some of the richness of the spiritual meaning of the prayers was lost through the dynamic style of translation. In 2001 Pope John Paul II through the document Liturgiam Authenticam he called for a more precise Mass translation “without the omissions or additions in terms of their content, without paraphrases or glosses.”

While there is a new English translation of the Mass, there is no change at all to the structure and order of the Mass. Only the text of the Roman Missal was changed. All the movements and gestures by the priest and congregation remain the same. What is the purpose of the new translation? Shortly after the completion of the Vatican II Council, the official English translators at the time known as ICEL (International Commission for the English Liturgy) decided to make a “dynamic” translation of the official Latin text. This means that a general meaning of the Latin text was translated into English instead of the usual “formal” translation as most of the other countries did. As a result, many liturgists and linguists have noted over the years that the intended fuller meaning of the Mass was not attained and even lost. Some of the richness of the spiritual meaning of the prayers was lost through the dynamic style of translation. In 2001 Pope John Paul II through the document Liturgiam Authenticam he called for a more precise Mass translation “without the omissions or additions in terms of their content, without paraphrases or glosses.” It took a decade to have the final English translation completed Have a great week and let us look forward with excitement to the celebration of the Mass in its new and improved English Mass translation.

Your shepherd in Christ,

Father Escalante

"August 28, 2011"

“A Big Move . . . to Woodgrove!”

This year our Sunday Religious Education program is moving to a new location: Woodgrove High School! We looked into addressing the logistics of the traffic, parking, pick-up/drop off and class size that have been concerns for the past several years at Loudoun Valley HS. It seems that Woodgrove HS fits well in response to the many issues that catechists and parents have brought up to our attention. Our Director of Religious Education, Melissa Gobs, surveyed the catechists through email about their thoughts of relocating to the new high school. We were amazed that an overwhelming 85% of those who responded were in favor of it and were very happy to hear the news!

While we’re very excited to go to a beautiful new facility, the other good news is that the move is expected to be short-lived because in a couple of years we expect to have our new parish center built and have the religious education classes held right here in our church property. And we are very grateful to Loudoun Valley HS for letting us use their facility for the past several years.

Please make note of the new time schedule for the Sunday classes beginning on September 11. The First Session is now from 8:45 – 10:00 am and the Second Session is from 10:35 – 11:50am. Parents are also reminded to please submit your children’s registration for the Religious Education Classes (CCD) as soon as possible. This is very important. We need to get an accurate number of students for this coming school year so that we will know how to plan for the catechists and classrooms. Contact Melissa Gobs or Janice Rees at our Religious Education office for registration (540-338.6381).

Your shepherd in Christ,

Father Escalante

"August 7, 2011"

Parish Hall repainted and floor resurfaced

First of all, congratulations to Jane and Chris Treado for leading a successful youth workcamp to East Bank, WV from July 17-23! The participants always have great stories to tell and we always look forward to hearing their inspiring reports.

The next time our youth group gathers in the parish hall (or any group), they will be treated to a nice surprise. We just completed repainting the walls and resurfacing the floors including the kitchen. Once again the hall is currently sparkling clean! We had to wait till this summer when there is a minimal use of the hall before we could do any maintenance work there. We had some money for maintenance from your generous contribution to the Building Maintenance fund (separate from the Building Our Faith fund for the new parish hall) due to the donors who helped pay for our new sanctuary HVAC system that will be installed this Fall. Slowly but with consistent pace we’re trying to improve our current facilities for a more pleasant use for our activities.

We are patiently working through getting our new parish center built as well. I’ll have more updates for you in the next bulletin. While the paperwork seems to be moving along, inflation is taking a bite on our upcoming projected building cost the longer we wait to officially get the final site plan approval from Loudoun County. Anyway, let’s save the ‘bump on the road’ news for next week. Right now let’s just enjoy the good news the kids brought back from workcamp and our cosmetically fixed up parish hall. God bless and I hope you are finding a way to enjoy this summer despite the awful heat. I try to remind myself with the following words from scripture to ‘cool off’ and it seems to work: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad” (Psalm 118:24).

Your shepherd in Christ,

Father Escalante