ACTA appeal for the 1998 Mass translation

Dear ICN readers,

We had wonderful news about Pope Francis statement on the English Liturgy and the translation of the Mass last week.

Please consider writing to the Cardinal, the Bishops and the Bishop's Conference about it. If you are too busy to send separate emails, one email copied to all the addresses bcc would be helpful. No need to write a long letter- even just a few sentences will help!

Pope Francis has decentralised authority over the English translation of the liturgy from the Vatican to the Bishop's Conference of England and Wales. In 1998 every Bishop's Conference of the English speaking world collegially approved an English translation of the Mass, after 17 years of intense international study by ICEL. As you know, that body of ICEL was disbanded. After only four years, the newly formed ICEL introduced the 2010 translation, which has not been received well by many. We want to ask our own diocesan bishops and the whole Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, meeting in Leeds in mid-November, to discuss introducing the 1998 Liturgy which they themselves had chosen, as soon as possible.

Find the email addresses of Bishops of England and Wales at the end of this letter.

For the Bishop's Conference, we are advised to send our email to Fr Paul Gunter paul.gunter@cbcew.org.uk (Secretary for the Department for Christian Life and Worship) and ask his Department to add it as an item for full discussion on the Agenda of the Plenary Assembly of Bishops. It has to be proposed by this Department first for the Bishops' Conference to discuss it together.

ACTA has been campaigning for years for the adoption of the 1998 translation - this is our chance - please help if you can NOW! I've attached a really simple specimen as an illustration of how brief the letter could be - it doesn't have to go into the technicalities. ACTA Leadership will of course be writing on behalf of us all but naturally it's the personal letters that count most with our Bishops.

You can see the 1998 translation on the ACTA website: www.acalltoaction.org.uk

God bless and love, Jean (Birmingham Diocesan Area Coordinator) on behalf of the National Leadership Team.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Archbishop Bernard,

My family and I were very pleased when Pope Francis changed the rules so local Bishops can choose their own translation for the Mass. I hope you and the other Bishops will be discussing this at your meeting in November. We hope you'll decide to adopt the translation made in 1998 on our behalf. I've seen the difference between that one and the one that we're using at the moment and the 1998 translation is much more understandable. The language is clearer.

Yours sincerely,

ADDRESSES

Find the address of your local bishops here: www.cbcew.org.uk/CBCEW-Home/The-Bishops/Diocesan-Bishops-of-England-and-Wales