In GB, "Catholics prepare for most significant reforms since Vatican II"

The revisions reflect a new translation for the English-speaking world of the Roman Missal, the official Latin-language set of worship documents. It includes words and instructions for conducting the Mass, the central act of Catholic worship, in which priests bless and distribute bread and wine as essentially the body and blood of Jesus.

Virtually every prayer and proclamation in the Mass is undergoing at least some revision, marking the biggest change in worship for American Catholics since they began having Masses in English rather than Latin after the reformist Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.

Locally, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay has been planning for the changes for more than a year, according to Sister Ann Rehrauer, director of evangelization, living justice and worship for the Green Bay diocese. In addition to training for priests, the diocese has held informational workshops about the changes and parishes have formed study groups to prepare. Rehrauer also has been writing columns about the Roman Missal for The Compass, the diocesan newspaper.

"This will be quite a change for people," Rehrauer said. "The people in the pews will not notice it as much. There will be some things they will pray differently; some word changes. … But for the priest, every single prayer they pray has been retranslated with a different style of translation."

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