A Typographical Error

How significant are typos in a liturgical book? Some might think that it is only a minor issue, and that might be correct, sometimes. Now consider a typo that repeats itself no less than one thousand five hundred times (yes, that is 1,500 times!). In the Novus Ordo form of the Mass it is present in every collect of the year. Technically, that means it is "one" typo repeated that many times. Yet, if it is repeated that many times, should we not be asking "how did everyone on the editorial team miss it?" That is quite a large number of typos, but they are all in the same area and are all related.

Now, let me be perfectly clear: we are not talking about a typo that states heresy. It is not that serious. Yet, a typo that is repeated that many times is still a typo. Here it is: at the end of almost every collect prayer in the Novus Ordo missal there is the sentence: "Through Jesus Christ our Lord." In case you do not know English grammar, that is not a complete sentence. There is no proper verb or subject--there is only a dependent clause--meaning, that there is nothing in the wording actually to be "through" the Lord. Interestingly, in the Divine Worship Mass, since it is old English, the rules of grammar are a bit different (yes, language rules do change with time), so things like punctuation and the like are a bit different. Yet, the Novus Ordo is supposed to be in modern English, and the rules of modern English should be applied.

Back when I used to serve in Diocesan parishes I used three or four different editions of the Roman Missal (Novus Ordo) at various times in various parishes. I myself possess two other editions that I keep in my office. It is the same typo in all of them. Now, to make it clear, I am not merely being nitpicky about this. The issue is much deeper than a mere grammatical typo. The issue is that one thousand five hundred times this mistake was typed and missed. If in all of those repeated mistakes no one noticed a problem, then what else has been overlooked? What does this say about the editorial team and their attention to detail?

It is that latter issue that I am most greatly concerned with. From what we know of the history of the preparation of the Novus Ordo, it appears that there was more concern for making things "simple" and "contemporary" than with making them accurate and orthodox. It is this same attitude of laxity that has crept down into the clergy, and therefore into the laity as well, who regularly participate in this form of the Mass. We will live our lives in the same way that we worship our Lord (with diligence and obedience, or with laziness and carelessness); worship effects everything.

We can see laxity towards the faith in so many places where you hear someone respond to Novus Ordo errors with, "what's the big deal? it's a valid Mass, so don't complain!" The "big deal" is that we are impacting people's souls, and that is even more important than any punctuation error.