TANZANIA: The Swahili Version of the New Roman Altar Missal is Ready

By Sarah Pelaji, Kiongozi Newspaper, TEC

TEC Chairman Rt. Rev. Tarcisius Ngalalekumtwa (left) Receives a copy of the Missal from Rt. Rev.  Salutaris Libena, TEC Bishop  Chairman of Liturgy Commission
TEC Chairman Rt. Rev. Tarcisius Ngalalekumtwa (left)
Receives a copy of the Missal from Rt. Rev.
Salutaris Libena, TEC Bishop
Chairman of Liturgy Commission

The long awaited Swahili version of the Roman Missal that will be used for Holy Mass and other liturgical celebrations has been completed.

Presenting it to the President of the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC), Rt. Rev. Tarcisius Ngalalekumtwa, at TEC Secretariat Kurasini, Dar-es-Salaam, the Bishop Chairman of the department of Liturgy Rt. Rev Salutaris Libena said that the next step after finishing the translation from Latin text to Kiswahili is to submit it to the Vatican for its final approval before it can be used officially.

The final version of the Missal is the product of the Liturgical Commissions of Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), in a work that started four years ago, as a part of the implementation of the 18th AMECEA resolution, held in Malawi in 2014.

The two conferences resolved to work together to translate from Latin to Kiswahili Language ‘The New Edition of the Roman Altar Missal’ which was expected to be used by Swahili speaking people in the region and beyond. In their first meeting which was held in Nairobi on November 11, 2014 and which was coordinated by AMECEA, the liturgical commissions of the two conferences decided to assign experts conversant with both Latin and Kiswahili Languages to do the translation.

“It was a very tasking job that required extensive discussions since owing to the fact that interpretation does not consider word for word only, but also concentrates on the environment, history and laws of the Church, the teachings of the Bible and the real meaning contained in the original Latin version of the text,” explained Bishop Libena who is also bishop of Ifakara diocese.

The translation work was initiated following the reforms to the original Roman Missal which in turn demanded other languages to take considerations of.

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