The last edition of the Missal dates from 1981. It incorporated certain changes from the original English version and also a number of extra readings. (That is why some of you with the older English missals may sometimes be left scratching your heads and asking: Where has that come from? It is from the newer edition).

However, it is true that the new English Missal is (very slowly) in the course of production. The main purpose of it is twofold:

(i) to provide new and better translations of many texts, including the prayers which in some cases are so far from the Latin original and so inaccurate as to be totally misleading.

(ii) to allow a proper ‘linkup’ between the three year cycle of the Lectionary readings and the other texts of the Mass. This will allow the thematic nature of each Sunday's texts to be more apparent.

So when is it coming out? A good question! More or less 'anywhen', as they say in Sussex. But if you buy a current Missal, you should allow for it becoming obsolete in about three or four years. When we get to 2001 we can see how wrong my prediction was. DS.