Varia

A copy of the long-awaited ICEL translation of the Ordinary of the Mass has appeared on Valle Adurni and various other blogs, via South Africa (where it is now available). Readers who haven't seen it yet should have a look.

It's a vast improvement and I look forward to using it, though it will take some getting used to. The transition between translations will probably be a bit messy - introducing the new responses to the people will be a pastoral challenge (in some cases taking years rather than months) and we priests will probably unthinkingly use the old, more familiar translation at times. After all, I still have to consciously think, during the Eucharistic Prayer, that the Pope's name is now 'Benedict' rather than 'John Paul,' especially when it's my third or fourth Mass on a Sunday!

On a different note, I've added two new blogs to my list: one is called Vive Jesus and is dedicated to the teachings of the great St Francis de Sales; the other, A Sub-Tutor's Diary, is not explicitly religious but it is, apparently, inspired by 'Roman Miscellany' and is written by a friend from Oxford, now a Sub-Tutor at a well-known public school. American readers, in particular, may be interested to find out what daily life is like at such a quintessentially English institution. I've been in touch with this friend through Facebook, which I've just started using. As one person put it to me, Facebook is 'one of the biggest time wasting mechanisms ever invented,' but it's useful in tracking down long-lost friends...