Currently, as no one here knows until now, I am studying religion (can't call it theology because they call it "Religious Studies") at a local Catholic University.

Already and with the fullest expectations I have run into the modern gobbledygook contained in the material I am reading with such wonderful expressions as "life-giving synergies” all the while quoting Rahner and Schillebeeckx – those wonderful bastions of Orthodoxy.

In class today we were talking about participation in the liturgy and the book (which gave decent treatment to the subject) and the professor used the common translation of Vatican II which renders it “active participation.” I asked him if a more accurate translation would be “actual participation” (because this is what I have read) to which he responded that it was debatable and it seemed he was implying that “active” would be the preferred translation.

So, not knowing Latin I would like to ask those who do what they think:

Quare ad universum Corpus Ecclesiae pertinent illudque manifestant et afficiunt; singula vero membra ipsius diverso modo, pro diversitate ordinum, munerum et actualis participationis, attingunt.


I have read the proper translation is “actual.” Is that true? Or is “active” more accurate? And if someone can confirm one or the other could you please tell me why that is? Thanks.

The google translation:

The Vatican translation:

I think this demonstrates that the use of the term "actual" is preferred by the Church. Also it shows the limitations of google's translator.

This was from the vatican website. I compared the Latin and English to determine exactly where the phrase appears in the document and it is between 26 and 27.

Latin original:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_coun ... um_lt.html

English translation:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_coun ... um_en.html

Actually I goofed up.

It appears the portion you quoted is translated "actual" but as you can see when section 2 of chapter I begins it says "active."
Thanks for pointing this out because for some reason before I did not see this.





So my main concern was over this part and beyond where they keep using "active."

I was wondering if there was some kind of grammar or usage of words in chapter II that would render the translation as "active."

ADL, I looked up Latin for "active" in that Vatican II document you just quoted in the last response. The Latin words are ACTUOSA PARTICIPATIONE in Paragraph 14. But Paragraph 58 uses ACTUALIS PARTICIPATIONIS.

These words are not the same.

I see... thanks.