The Diocese of Dumaguete in Negros Oriental is gearing for the implementation of the new English translation of the Roman Missal on December 2, 2012.
Msgr. Gamaliel Tulabing, Diocesan administrator, said he hopes there will be little or no difficulty for Catholics to adjust to the new English translation of the Mass, that was approved by the Vatican last year and supposed to be implemented on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011.
But the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines had requested for a one-year grace period to allow time to catechize and educate the faithful before the new version of Roman Missal takes effect, he said.
Tulabing noted that in the countryside parishes, most masses are being said in the Cebuano or other local dialects. But he said there are books and videos to help the priests educate their parishioners on the updated version.
Masses in local dialects do not have a new word-for-word translation of the Roman Missal in its original Latin version, he added.
Meanwhile, Fr. Anscar Chupungco, a Benedictine monk and a liturgy expert in the country, recently conducted a seminar for the Dumaguete clergy, nuns, seminarians and lay faithful on the new Roman Missal.