OR A NUMBER of years, I was involved with a project commissioned by the world’s largest Catholic publisher. It required a meticulous comparison between the 1950 Holy Week (sometimes erroneously called “pre-55”) and the version found in the 1962 books. During that process, something became crystal clear: viz. many who claim to be “experts” on the old Holy Week are ignorant of its basic facts—in particular what specifically was changed and what remained the same. Worse, these same folks have the audacity to claim they “hate and detest” the 1962 version. This phenomenon has been described by a very smart priest as the I don’t know what it is but I hate it syndrome. I’ll return to this theme in a moment.
(1 of 4) NAB Bible Translation • I’m the last person on earth who’d defend the English translation known as the NEW AMERICAN BIBLE (NAB). If memory serves, the NAB never uses the word “soul”—making certain Biblical passages into gobbledygook. Such tampering is iniquitous. The NAB also tried to adopt language that’s “overly colloquial” or “super casual”—and the results are frequently damnable. Examples might include the FIRST READING for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) or the GOSPEL for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B).1
(2 of 4) NAB Bible Translation • That having been said, when it comes to the NAB, certain online authors unwittingly manifest the ‘syndrome’ we spoke of earlier. In other words, they attack the NAB without understanding what it is they’re attacking.
(3 of 4) NAB Bible Translation • For example, many musicians claim the NAB Responsorial Psalms are “horrible” compared to the GRAIL PSALTER, or the so-called “Revised” Grail, or the Abbey Psalms And Canticles translation. A quick review: the Abbey Psalms And Canticles will (supposedly) be part of the new USA Lectionary which will (supposedly) arrive circa 2029. Some people also refer to the Abbey Psalms And Canticles as the “Revised-Revised Grail.” [I do realize all this is absurdly confusing … but please don’t shoot the messenger.]
(4 of 4) NAB Bible Translation • Is it really true the NAB is “horrendous” compared to the Abbey Psalms And Canticles translation? Well, the entire Abbey Psalms And Canticles Psalter was leaked a few years back. Here’s a brief comparison chart:
* PDF Download • COMPARISON CHART
—NAB vs. the so-called Abbey Psalms And Canticles (“Revised-Revised Grail”).
Can anybody even tell which is which?
Conclusions • My colleague, CORRINNE MAY, correctly pointed out that I often do a poor job ending my articles. Therefore, let me provide a few concluding thoughts. The NAB has supposedly been “provisional” for a long time. For more than a decade, the USCCB pretended it was going to replace the NAB Responsorial Psalms with the so-called “revised” GRAIL PSALTER (whose rights are administered by a non-Christian company). Whatever you want to call such shenanigans—“head fake” or “dirty trick” or “misunderstanding” or whatever—the NAB Responsorial Psalms were never replaced. Currently, for a number of years we’ve been assured the Abbey Psalms And Canticles are going to replace the NAB Responsorial Psalms. At the same time, the USCCB is careful to say the Abbey Psalms And Canticles translation is “provisional.” That is to say, they reserve the right to make future changes for any reason (or for no reason at all). My question is simple: Why do we continue to play these games?
1 This isn’t to claim or assert that vernacular translations before Vatican II were above reproach, as Monsignor Knox demonstrated in his masterly treatise, On Englishing The Bible (1949), which was inexplicably published under multiple titles (including Trials Of A Translator).
