Lost in Translation

Gerald O'Collins, SJ, (1931-2024), was an adjunct professor at Australian Catholic University and a research fellow at the University of Divinity in Melbourne. He taught at the Gregorian University in Rome for thirty-three years and was well known as a lecturer and broadcaster around the world. Fr. O'Collins has had hundreds of articles published in professional and popular journals and authored or co-authored sixty-seven books, including The Second Vatican Council: Message and Meaning (Liturgical Press, 2014). John Wilkins edited the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet from 1982 until his retirement in 2003.

• Contents  Authors’ NotePreface1. The Missal That Never WasJohn Wilkins2. Translation into the Vernacular: Two Guidelines3. The Roman Missal of December 20104. The Suppressed Translation of 19985. The Opening Prayers of the 1998 Missal6. A Tale of Two Missals (1998 and 2010)Postscript: September 2017Select BibliographyIndex of Names

"At last we have a comprehensive treatment of the sad history of the Vatican's dismantling of ICEL's efforts at providing us with translations that are both elegant and communicative. My favorite line: `Before I die, I would be delighted to celebrate once again the Eucharist in my native language.' This book provides trenchant criticism of the current translation of the Roman Missal and wonderful observations on the 1998 `Missal that wasn't.' As in so many areas of contemporary theology, we are once again in O'Collins's debt."John F. Baldovin, SJ, Professor of Historical and Liturgical Theology, Boston College School of Theology & Ministry