TALK ON THE NEW TRANSLATION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL

Sandakan : More than 200 lay faithful from the various church groups / ministries, sub parishes, outstations and religious sisters of the Sandakan Parish gathered at St Mary's Cathedral, 22nd September 2011 to attend the bilingual, English and Bahasa Malaysia briefing on the New Text of Roman Missal by Rev Fr David Garaman, the Chairperson of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission.

Fr David highlighting the new text

The talk commenced with an opening prayer led by Rev Fr Philip Muji, the assistant rector at 8.00 pm.  Fr David  stressed that the changes involved only the text but not the Mass. He gave an overview of the history of the Missal beginning from the 3rd century till its present state, the third edition of the Roman Missal in English speaking countries.

He referred to the Pastoral Letter of Bishop Paul Tan SJ, the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei regarding the new translation of the Roman Missal which  was extended to all parishes in July this year. 

All English Speaking countries will begin using the New English Translation of the Mass on the first Sunday of Advent. The celebration of the mass will remain the same. Only the language use in the Liturgy will have changes.  

The catechesis of the new text was held in August for Bishop and all Priests of the Diocese of Sandakan. He added that the text for the English translation is now available in all Parish Bookshops. It was decided in the recent Diocesan Priests' Meeting that the new order of Mass in English and Bahasa Malaysia will take effect on the first Sunday of Advent this year. The Bahasa translation text will soon be available.

Fr David went on to say that the objective of the talk is to familiarize the faithful  and to prepare them well in advance the liturgical texts of the Roman Missal which shall be used beginning the first Sunday in Advent 2011.

He highlighted some of the changes of the new text through power point presentation (White Bold Font):

The talk ended with a closing prayer led by Fr Phillip at 9.15pm.