What is ICEL?

The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) is a mixed commission of Catholic Bishops' Conferences in countries where English is used in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy according to the Roman Rite. The purpose of the Commission is to prepare English translations of each of the Latin liturgical books and any individual liturgical texts in accord with the directives of the Holy See.

Eleven Conferences of Bishops are currently full members of ICEL. They are: Australia, Canada, England and Wales, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Scotland, Southern African, and the United States of America.

Each of these Conferences elects one bishop to represent it on the Commission. The members are at present:
The Most Revd Patrick O'Regan, Archbishop of Adelaide, Australia
The Most Revd Brian J. Dunn, Archbishop Coadjutor of Halifax-Yarmouth, Canada
The Most Revd George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff, Wales
The Most Revd Peter Paul Saldanha, Bishop of Mangalore, India
The Most Revd Alan McGuckian, S.J., Bishop of Raphoe, Ireland
The Most Revd Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Hamilton, New Zealand
The Most Revd Benny M. Travas, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan
The Most Revd Julius Tonel, Bishop of Ipil, the Philippines
The Most Revd Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., Bishop of Aberdeen, Scotland
The Most Revd Sylvester David, OMI, Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town, South Africa
The Most Revd Leonard Blair, Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A

In addition, there are fifteen other Conferences of Bishops where English is used in the Liturgy to a lesser extent, though they have access to liturgical texts prepared by ICEL.

The Bishops of ICEL are assisted in their work by the professional staff of ICEL’s Secretariat, which is located in Washington, D.C. The Secretariat coordinates the work of specialists throughout the English-speaking world in the preparation of translations.

When an ICEL translation has been completed and approved by the Bishops of the Commission, it is sent to the Member and Associate-Member Conferences for their consideration.

ICEL itself is not a publisher of liturgical books and related materials in the usual sense. Rather, like individual authors, translators, or editors, it provides the content of such publications to the Conferences who in turn authorize publishing firms.

Bishops from English-speaking countries attending the Second Vatican Council set up the Commission in Rome in 1963. On 15 September 2003, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments formally established ICEL as a mixed commission in accordance with the Holy See's Instruction Liturgiam authenticam.