Reverting to Latin not the solution
drchris June 25th, 2007
Church must confront the problems of the day
We understand there are plans to bring back Latin fully into our Eucharistic celebrations. One main reason for that is to improve the solemnity of the service which appears to be on the decline.
There is considerable dwindling in the number of Catholics throughout the world especially in Europe and the United States. Not only the number of new Catholics is on the decline but there is also an increased exodus of existing ones. Have we seriously pondered why many are deserting us?
The Church should be extremely, and rightly she is, worried by the secular trends that are captivating the younger generation. By reverting to Latin we hope to arrest this trend and bring back the glory of our past. Will this arrest the declining influence of the Church on people I today’s secular world?
What we fail to realize is that it was not the alone language that was responsible for our greatness. Rather it was the political power and more important, our service to mankind, in keeping with the teachings of Jesus that brought us that glory. Latin was the most influential language of day, the language of the mighty Roman Empire.
I fail to understand how we can establish a meaningful relationship with God or for that matter any person if we try to communicate in a language we do not comprehend. In order to express our love we must think and speak in a language which we understand and it should be in the depths of our hearts.
We have come a long way to establish our liturgical services effectively in vernacular languages, especially English, which is the Language of modern era. It would be a tragedy to undo these by reverting to Latin, merely for sentimental reasons or just trying to be different from others.
There is no dispute that we should preserve our traditions of the past, but we should refrain from reverting to past laurels as escapism from the current crises and turmoil affecting us. We must change with the times to address the problems of the present using those past experiences as reference and guide.
If the Church fails to successfully address the problems facing humanity today, there is real danger that she may become irrelevant in the lives of man. What we need to do is to revert back to Jesus and his teachings not Latin or, for the matter, any other language.
Dr.Chris Anthony
