June 18, 2009

Bishops approve text, inclusion of Mass of Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life, Spanish Lectionary; other liturgy votes inconclusive

SAN ANTONIO (USCCB) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), meeting in their spring general assembly, approved the text of the Mass in Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life and its U.S. adaptation to the Roman Missal. It was approved with 183 Latin rite bishops voting yes, 3 voting no and 3 abstaining. Its adaptation was approved with 179 bishops voting yes, 1 voting no and 1 abstaining.

The Spanish-language Lectionary, or Leccionario, was approved by a vote of 182 to 1. Approval on all liturgical items required two-thirds of the Latin bishops, or 163 votes.

Other liturgical action items on Masses and Prayer for Various Needs and Intentions, Votive Masses and Masses for the Dead, Ritual Masses, and Order of the Mass II produced inconclusive votes, failing to achieve 163 votes for or against. These items will be sent to the bishops absent from the San Antonio meeting for a mail vote. These items were part of the ongoing adaptation of a new English translation of the Roman Missal

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