Why no ‘Yahweh’ in
Catholic liturgies?

It was with interest that I read the article in the Aug. 20 issue of the Register titled “No ‘Yahweh’ in songs, prayers at Catholic Masses, Vatican rules.”  The article said that the Vatican ruled the Old Testament name of God, ‘Yahweh’ must not “be used or pronounced” in songs or prayers during Catholic Masses.  The article goes on to quote Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli’s explanation of the impact of this Vatican ruling on liturgical texts and music in our country.  What the article does not do, is give the reader any rationale for this decision.
I’m no Biblical scholar, but I remember the word Jehovah (Yahweh) appears often in the Old Testament.  So what’s happened; what changed?  Does it have a negative connotation? 
It would be nice to be an informed Catholic and (in this case) understand why our songs will be changing.  That seems an important responsibility of our Register.
 
Roy Anderson
Fort Collins

Editor’s note: The “No ‘Yahweh’” piece was a Catholic News Service brief explaining that due to a Vatican directive the Old Testament term “Yahweh” would no longer be used in songs or prayers in Catholic liturgies. The great advantage to running news briefs is they allow a publication to get more news in to limited space; the drawback is they don’t share the full story. Due to reader interest the Denver Catholic Register is running the “No ‘Yahweh’” story in its entirety on Page 7 of this week’s issue.

Weigel needs to widen his spectrum

Well, ultra-conservative Weigel did it again with his comments in “Would President Obama be good for black America?” Aug. 20 Register. Would it not be better for blacks and all Americans to end an unjust war, to solve our multiple health care problems, to work toward improving our economy, and to diligently fight the issues with big oil? We must look at the whole spectrum, not just a few, albeit important, conservative causes.

Patrick Fitzgerald
Columbine Valley, Colo.