By Patrick Wall
Special to DNAinfo
UPPER WEST SIDE — After weeks of preparation, Holy Trinity Church on the Upper West Side joined Roman Catholic churches around the world Sunday as they launched — and sometimes struggled through — an updated translation of the Mass.
Over the past month, Rev. Joseph Koterski used his homilies to explain the “why and the what” of the official new translation, which is meant to more closely reflect the original Latin version. But on Sunday, the priest acknowledged that after nearly 40 years of reciting the same prayers, the new wording would take some getting used to.
“I find [the changes] make the language more exalted and prayerful,” Koterski said after Mass at the West 82nd Street house of worship. “But you have to say them slowly and not trip over them.”
For example, when the priest calls out, “The Lord be with you,” parishioners now respond, “And with your spirit,” rather than, “And also with you.” During the Nicene Creed, “one in being with the Father” has been replaced with “consubstantial with the Father,” a particularly tricky turn of phrase.
“It’s a big tongue-twister,” said Louis Werner, a 20-year parishioner at Holy Trinity. He said some of the congregation stumbled over that word and others, which fetched smiles from the priest.
But, Werner added, “We’ll eventually get it.”
Stephanie Miller, 45, who gave a reading during the Mass, said the church passed out “cheat sheets” with the new wording. And a purple church bulletin, “The Holy Trinity Times,” proclaimed in bold, “Parish Avoids Mass Confusion!” Next Wednesday, the church will offer a class on the changes.
Miller, for one, said she enjoyed the challenge of the new English translation.
“It forced us to pay more attention to what we were saying,” Miller said, adding, “I’d say there was much less fidgeting than usual.”
Others appreciated the new translation’s nod to the old Latin Mass, which was used for centuries before the first English translation was adopted in 1973.
“For an old-timey Catholic like me, [the changes] were more old-timey,” said Norma Molyneax, 80, who has attended Mass at one Upper West Side church or another for 50 years.
Still, at least one churchgoer had a small gripe about the new translation: it meant a longer Mass — something the priest mentioned during Sunday’s homily.
“Not exactly what you want to hear when you have a small child,” said parishioner Andrew Albanese, his 2-year-old daughter in tow.
