Jimmy,
It seems fair to note that any language has two basic functions; one clearly to communicate and the other to evoke thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Each language since the dawn of civilization has had these attributes as well as a variant of the evocative that is reserved for addressing the divine.
Liturgical Latin and Greek have their origins in pagan Greco-Roman forms; a very natural evolution since one knew, hearing the syntax and word-usage, that it was the sacred form.
English is no exception. We Americans have become so accustomed to techno-babble and direct communication that the evocative seems strange to our ears. Sacred language is an art form offered in highest praise as is music, stained glass, and the architecture of our great churches.
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Jimmy,
It seems fair to note that any language has two basic functions; one clearly to communicate and the other to evoke thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Each language since the dawn of civilization has had these attributes as well as a variant of the evocative that is reserved for addressing the divine.
Liturgical Latin and Greek have their origins in pagan Greco-Roman forms; a very natural evolution since one knew, hearing the syntax and word-usage, that it was the sacred form.
English is no exception. We Americans have become so accustomed to techno-babble and direct communication that the evocative seems strange to our ears. Sacred language is an art form offered in highest praise as is music, stained glass, and the architecture of our great churches.
A long piece on the power struggles between the ICEL and the Congregation for Doctrine and Worship leading to the aborted 1998 translation, Liturgiam Authenticam and the new translation
Lost in translation: the bishops, the Vatican & the English Liturgy
by John Wilkins former editor of The Tablet
Whst do you say to people who note that we wouldn’t even know about adult stem cells except for research on embryonic stem cells?
D’oh! Wrong post.
Monsignor Wadsworth did.
He is also a big proponent of the Traditional Latin Mass.
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