Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993 TAG: 9303260100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CATHOLIC CATECHISM FIGHT FLARES
Not even the Roman Catholic catechism is exempt from debates over political correctness.The new catechism is a best-seller in France and Spain, but a dispute over the way the document distinguishes between the sexes is keeping the English translation off U.S. bookshelves.
First due out in March, the translation still was being worked on this week and is not expected to be available to the nation's 55 million Catholics for several months.
The U.S. translators' original version, which broadened references to man to include members of the human family and humanity, was turned back by the Vatican as unfaithful to the compendium of Catholic teaching approved by Pope John Paul II last June.
In the middle of the dispute is conservative Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who originally suggested the idea of a new catechism at a bishops' synod in Rome in 1985. He now finds himself accused of bowing to political correctness in the English translation.
"If this document were to come out in English in exclusive language, it would insure a massive alienation immediately," said Mary Boys, associate professor of theology at Boston College. Law "is sticking his neck out a bit vis-a-vis the Vatican, and I respect him for that."
Thirteen U.S. publishers are preparing to publish the 676-page document, the first universal catechism of the church since 1566.
While it maintains traditional bans on divorce, abortion and female priests, the catechism also catalogs a list of more modern sins such as tax fraud and low wages and urges compassion for homosexuals.
"For any Catholic to be completely informed, they would want to have the catechism as a point of reference," said the Rev. John Pollard of the Education Department of the U.S. Catholic Conference.
The catechism was issued in French in November. A Spanish version quickly followed, with two printings of more than 400,000 copies selling out within days.
The English version was submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith shortly before Christmas, Pollard said. In a meeting in early February attended by Law and others, objections were raised over the use of more inclusive language in translating Scripture and the writings of church theologians.
The translators substituted phrases such as people, men and women, humanity or humankind at various points where the word "man" was not specifically referring to males.
Some of the more controversial examples related to the translations of the utterances of Jesus in the Gospel, said the Rev. Joseph Fessio, editor of Ignatius Press in San Francisco.
The saying in Matthew 25:40 when Jesus tells his followers "as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me" was changed to "just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family."
Those involved in the translation spoke of the difficulties of translating the French into gender-neutral language. L'homme, the French for "man," can have many different meanings in English that are not exclusive to one sex, they said.
"There was a time when the word `man' would generally be understood . . . as meaning all human beings. This is not always the case today, given the cultural shift concerning inclusivity," Law wrote in a Feb. 12 article in the archdiocesan newspaper The Pilot.
The Rev. Berard Marthaler of Catholic University of America, who served as a consultant to the English translators, called it a fine translation that intentionally avoided "the so-called battle of the pronouns."
But critics said the English version was an incorrect translation that had more to do with ideological considerations than the handing down of the faith.
"The second person of the Trinity became man, and you can't get away from that reality," said Monsignor Michael J. Wrenn, special consultant for religious education for the Archdiocese of New York. "It [inclusive language] is used to the point where it really becomes bizarre."
The Rev. Douglas Clark, a Georgia priest and the chief English translator, said Wednesday he was still working on the revised translation, but he expected to complete his work shortly. The Vatican will then review the version.