Here is a Wisconsin monk who would like to see the New American Bible retired and replaced. Hear hear!
His article really is hilarious:
In Hebrew, this passage is one of scripture’s most complex pieces of poetry. In the King James, it is one of the best-known texts in the English-speaking world. In the text which most American Catholics hear each week at Mass, the creation story sounds a bit like a set of IKEA instructions.
IKEA instructions:) So true. I can't comprehend how these things came to pass amongst people who profess their love for the Church. I will stick with the DRB where people feared God enough to do an accurate translation. Why would anyone want to memorize the texts of the NAB that will no doubt keep changing, and keep being revised every couple of decades. Much like the 3 year cycle for readings, it does not allow for memory. Where there is a memory of things celebrated/read/sung there is an anticipation, a longing that is the hallmark of why people attach themselves to tradition…"I remember reading that last year, and I look forward to doing it again next week." "I remember singing that last year, and I look forward to singing it again next week."
How many people will be able to keep up with the latest translation of those same readings or remember a reading that repeats every three years. i.e. Last week I went to a Low Mass and there were three different variations of St Michaels prayer being recited at the same time, some would say "prowl" some would say "roam" and some would say "wander". This is chaos.
Well, having moved recently, I've helped to assemble some IKEA products. IKEA instructions *have no words*, since they are sold over the world in many languages. The picture instructions that come with an IKEA lamp or dresser have more expression than the NAB!
I, a recent convert from Episcopalianism, must humbly disagree, however slightly, with Br. Stephen and the two previous commenters. The NAB should never have been adopted. Eliminating it will be an incomplete solution without some form of reparative therapy for those of us already exposed to it. Lacking that we will forever be bound to pray:
"We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by ill-chosen and mundane translation, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our mistranslations; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son
our Lord Jesus Christ's sake."