Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
June 22, 2009

The U.S. Catholic bishops will have to poll members who were missing from their spring meeting in San Antonio before it's known whether they have approved liturgical prayers, special Masses and key sections of a new English translation of the Order of the Mass. Five texts being prepared for use in English-speaking countries failed to get the necessary two-thirds votes of the Latin-rite U.S. bishops during the June 18 session of the bishops' meeting. With 244 Latin-rite bishops in the United States eligible to vote on the questions, the required two-thirds would be 163. With 189 eligible bishops attending the meeting, only 134 voted to accept the first section, Masses and prayers for various needs and intentions. On four subsequent translations, the votes also failed to reach two-thirds, meaning the 55 bishops not present will be polled by mail on all five parts. That process is expected to take several weeks.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Perhaps it is the hard-won wisdom that comes with age, but the Catholic rituals and practices I once scorned are the same rituals and practices that now usher me into God's presence, time and time again.
Maribeth BoeltsAugust 01, 2025
"Only through patient and inclusive dialogue" can "a just and lasting conflict resolution can be achieved" in the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, said the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations.
This is the movie poster for “The Bad Guys” (CNS photo/DreamWorks Pictures)
The ”Bad Guys” films ask, how do we determine who the “bad guys” are? And if you’re marked as “bad” from the start, can you ever make good?
John DoughertyAugust 01, 2025
In these dark times, surrounded by death and destruction in Gaza, we hear the command in the first reading, “Choose life.” What are the ways we can do this in a world that seems to have gone mad?
David Neuhaus, S.J.July 31, 2025