Translators from Darjeeling-Sikkim and Nepal held a two-day Pastoral Literature Translation Workshop at Divya Vani Pastoral Centre, Darjeeling, on September 10-11, 2024.
The workshop brought together 12 participants, including resource persons, to focus on translating key Church documents for Nepali-speaking Catholics.
Organized as a continuation of a previous workshop held in Bangkok in June 2024 under the guidance of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Office of Social Communication, the event aimed to establish translation teams for major Asian languages.
The goal is to ensure that crucial Church documents reach the faithful across linguistic divides.
At the conclusion of the workshop, participants expressed their enthusiasm for the project, with many experienced translators stating that they gained valuable insights into new tools and methods.
The translators prioritized the completion of the Nepali Bible, which they noted was outside the typical scope of pastoral literature but essential for their community.
In light of Pope Francis’ call for Catholics to read the four Vatican II documents as part of the Jubilee 2025 preparations, the team committed to translating these texts into Nepali by Christmas 2024.
In addition, the team agreed to undertake the translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) incrementally.
They also planned to develop a Nepali glossary of religious terms and translate the Lives of Saints and the Church’s social teachings.
The next meeting of the translation team will take place in Damak, Nepal, on November 15, 2024.
