The Bishops of eleven English-speaking countries have completed a new English translation of the Latin Roman Missal, Editio tertia, and the new English Roman Missal is under final review at the Vatican.
The new Missal will be the first new translation since the current Missal was published in 1974--some 36 years ago.
It is anticipated that the new English Roman Missal will begin full use on the First Sunday of Advent, 2011--less than two years from now.
Since the 1974 version was translated in haste, there were many errors in the translation which rendered the Missal inaccurate in many places.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles just completed a series of Workshops for all of our priests to inform them about the coming new Missal, reasons for changes, and a good grounding in the efforts taken to produce a Missal which is more theologically correct.
A whole series of Workshops are being planned for everyone involved in the planning and celebration of the Eucharist: permanent deacons, parish liturgy committees, members of the various ministries, and the like. As we get closer to the launch of the new Missal, we will have several weeks of catechesis for all our people about the new Missal and the changes which will affect them in their responses at Mass.
There are two websites which contain a lot of background and information on the new English Missal. I recommend these two:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
www.usccb.org/romanmissal
The Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions:
www.fdlc.org/roman_missal.htm
The coming months will be very important to the life of the Church in the English-speaking world, and I encourage all of us to become as informed as we can about the new English Roman Missal.