The translation of the Bible to be used in the new edition of the lectionary for Mass in England and Wales is being amended to use gender-inclusive language where contextually appropriate, The Tablet can reveal.
For 18 months, the Depart-ment of Christian Life and Wor-ship of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has been adapting the text of the English Standard Version Catholic Edi-tion so that inclusive translations are used whenever translators’ footnotes in the original text of the ESV-CE indicate they are appropriate, for example when the Greek word adelphoi (bro-thers) refers to both men and women.
The wording of the ESV-CE has been adapted to make it more inclusive approximately 142 times in the two volumes of the lectionary already prepared.
The Archbishop of Cardiff, George Stack, chair of the Department of Christian Life and Worship, told The Tablet: “We can’t change the language of the Bible, but we can adapt it so that it speaks powerfully to people in this age.”