As Catholics in the United States get accustomed to new responses and prayers at Sunday Mass, many will probably ask: Why did the Mass change? The answers have to do with changes to the Latin text upon which the English translation is based and on the rules according to which the translations are made.

When the bishops at the Second Vatican Council decided that at least parts of the liturgy should be in the language of the people, they determined that national groups (“conferences”) of bishops should prepare translations of the Latin texts in the vernacular. Because English is widely used throughout the world, bishops from English-speaking countries created one translation group, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), which gathered translators, poets, biblical scholars, and others to produce the English texts of the Mass and other sacraments.