Vernacular Confusion

Have you ever noticed the difference in the modern English names for certain feast days, and the older Latin names? We have "The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ", and, "Corpus Christi". We also have "Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe", and, "Christus Rex". Supposedly, the change to the vernacular was because the Latin was too complicated. How is ten syllables less complicated than four? Or, how is eleven less complicated than three? Does someone really think people cannot learn what the Latin words mean?

This is indicative of the manner of moving to the vernacular. If the wording is aiming at making things clearer, then that is a good motivation. If, however, the wording is aiming at making it simpler, then (as is often the case) moving to the vernacular is going to cloud the words, not clarify them. I cannot tell you how many times I have read a modern Novus Ordo prayer, and compared it with the (non-vernacular) Divine Worship prayer that is in Sacral English. Sometimes in trying to simplify the point of a prayer in the Novus Ordo, there are so many qualifiers and adjectives added in that it is hard to tell what it even means any more. When I used to say Novus Ordo Mass I would have people sometimes ask me, "What did that prayer mean?" It has never once happened with the Divine Worship Mass.

It does not take a person with a doctoral degree in Latin to understand that "Corpus Christi" means "The Body of Christ". We can learn these phrases that are more clear, and use them. Latin is still the official language of the Church, and though the Church has always had an allowance for the possibility of things not being done in Latin (which is much older than the Second Vatican Council!), that does not mean we should abandon the use of Latin. We can use it in titles, technical terms, and of course in many chants for the Mass. Let us not seek just to simplify, but to clarify and grow in our knowledge of the faith.