Some Australian Priests to Refuse Mass Translation

H/T to CathNews: “At least a dozen” Australian priests will refuse to use the new translation of the Roman Missal, due to be implemented in November, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.  “The Catholic Church is facing open defiance over its new Mass,” says the Herald, “with at least a dozen Australian priests indicating they will refuse to use it when it comes into force later this year. Hundreds more are angry about the lack of consultation for the new, more literal translation of the 400-year-old Latin text, which was heavily influenced by a Vatican advisory committee headed by the Sydney Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell.”  The article lists some of the (by now well known) changes and quotes a few priests: 

The chairman of the National Council of Priests of Australia, Father Ian McGinnity, said hundreds of its 1600 members were “pretty steamed up” at the Vatican’s lack of consultation but most had not yet decided how to respond. At least a dozen had indicated they would not use the new English translation, he said. ‘We’re also very concerned that the language, the idiom, might perhaps estrange more Catholics from participation in the Eucharist,’ he said. Asked what sanctions a local bishop could apply to defiant priests, Father McGinnity said: “I really don’t know. I suppose he could suspend a bloke. But given the [priest] shortage, it’s unlikely.” Father [John] Crothers [pictured, and a parish priest in Penshurst] said he had told Cardinal Pell his position at a clergy conference last year. ‘I said at the conference, ‘I won’t be doing it, and where do I stand there?’ And he’s just said that he expected all the priests will do it.’