The Sacred name of God, YHWH and its use in Liturgy

Last week the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a letter to all Bishops banning the use of God's sacred name YHWH in liturgical activity. Said letter was accompanied by a letter from Francis Cardinal Arinze, prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments explaining the rationale.

In essence, Yahweh is no longer to be used a) out of the traditional respect that is given to God's name, b) to remain more in line with the mandates of Liturgiam Authenticam which dictates that Liturgical texts must be as faithful as possible to their original languages. Since the earliest texts of Scripture (written in Greek used Kyrios and those in Hebrew used Adonai), meaning "LORD," instead of YAWEH, we should follow that directive. Furthermore, the use of Yahweh is not within our tradition.

As far as liturgical impact, Y---H is not be used in music and prayer texts such as the prayers of the faithful. Arinze's letter makes the recommendation that even within readings of sacred scripture, Lord or God be used in place of Y---H.

I for one am glad that this has been clarified for us. Sadly, one of my favorite songs of all time will be done away with in liturgy, "You are Near" by Dan Schutte. Perhaps we can change the Y---H to, "My God, I know you are near, standing always at my side..." who knows.