Hi!

I have 3 months to the wedding date. Alot of things need to be sorted out this week. Something that's been giving me alot of trouble is the Mass Program - 2 versions; one bi-lingual, the other in Japanese. The Rite of Matrimony is not a concern.

Here's the problem: My uncle who is also my godfather absolutely insists on being con-celebrant. All the other priests are Vietnamese-American. But, he only speaks German and Vietnamese. So the Mass has to be in Vietnamese. The readings have to be Vietnamese/English for my fiance's(who speaks only Japanese/English) benefit and participation. Also, everyone agrees a certain American deacon should be present - don't know how he fits in(He normally should read the Gospel). Hmm...

Question 1: What parts of the Vernacular Mass needs to be in that language?

Question 2: Should a priest who doesn't understand the language of half the Liturgy of the Word celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy?

Question 3: Can't it just all be in Vietnamese, as that would make it really easy for me to print the Program?

Everyone seems hohum about this...but I'm a little concerned.

General opinions are welcome also!

Thanks and God Bless!

-- Vincent (love@noemail.net), February 01, 2005

Answers

Bump for responses

-- Vincent (love@noemail.net), February 01, 2005.

The Church has no problem with a Mass or other liturgy being said in 2 or more different languages for different parts of the Mass, provided the approved texts of each language are used. I believe Pope John Paul has concelebrated several such Masses. I sympathize with your difficulties in printing the program. But think of it as just a small effort needed to take part in your wonderfully multilingual, multicultural, international wedding in our multilingual, multicultural, international Church! God bless you and your bride!

-- Steve (55555@aol.com), February 01, 2005.

Windows XP has a lot of multi-lingual support built in. You should be able to generate a Unicode file that integrates as many different languages as you want.

おめでとう

-- Mark (aujus_1066@yahoo.com), February 01, 2005.

The important thing about this celebration is the Marriage Vows, both of you MUST understand what is being asked of you and STATE clearly your intentions.

-- Fr. Paul (pjdoucet@hotmail.com), February 12, 2005.