By Matters India Reporter
Aluva: A parish in Kerala on September 5 witnessed unruly scenes when its priest tried to read a pastoral letter from the head of the Syro-Malabar Church during the Sunday Mass.
A section of parishioners of the Holy Family Church at Prasannapuram near Aluva rushed to the altar to prevent the priest from reading the letter from Cardinal George Alencherry.
Another group of parishioners opposed them. Both the groups engaged in heated arguments for a long time and confusion prevailed.
A TV channel in Kerala showed some parishioners burning the pastoral letter outside the church building.
The parish comes under the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
A protesting parishioner told the Mathrubhumi TV channel that their parish priest Father Inchackal Celestine was adamant in reading the pastoral letter so that he could be in the good books of the cardinal. According to him, only three among the archdiocese’s 456 priests have read the letter in their parish churches.
The pastoral letter contained a directive from the Oriental Church’s synod of bishops advising priests and parishioners on celebrating the Mass in a uniform way.
The uniform way involves celebrating the Mass with the celebrant facing the congregation in the beginning and at the end of the Mass and turning toward the altar during offertory and the consecration, the most important part. Priests and parishioners from Ernakulam-Angamaly, Irinjalakuda and Thrissur dioceses are among those opposing the instruction.
These dioceses have been following a system of celebrating the Mass where the priest faces the people for the entire duration of Mass.
A delegation of more than 500 priests from the three dioceses had submitted a petition to the Church authorities not to impose the system of celebrating the Mass with the celebrant facing away from the people.
“We have been celebrating the Mass for more than half-a-century facing the people and it will be against the will of the parishioners to impose another system,” a senior priest of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese told The Hindu newspaper.
He said those opposing the new directive have appealed Pope Francis. Until Rome takes a decision, the system will remain suspended and Mass celebration will continue as earlier, he added.
A priests’ delegation from Ernakulam-Angamaly and Thrissur archdioceses and Irinjalakkuda diocese has also appealed to maintain the status quo with regard to the celebration of the Mass.
The group also claimed that Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocesan administrator Archbishop Antony Kariyil has assured them that in consultation with the bishops, the decision to implement a uniform code for the Mass would be re-examined.
Earlier on August 10, all the priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly wrote to Pope Francis saying they want to continue to offer Mass facing people, a practice that they have followed for the past 50 years.
The memorandum was sent to the prefect of the Oriental Congregation in Rome and the apostolic nuncio in in India, as the Syro-Malabar Synod prepared to discuss Pope Francis’ letter on the controversial issue of liturgy.
The August 16-24 virtual synod decided that all their dioceses would implement the uniform mode of celebrating Mass from November 28 this year that marks the beginning of the next liturgical calendar in the Church.
The complete transformation of the Mass, in the new format, will be in place from Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022.
Pope July 3 letter had exhorted the members of the Syro-Malabar Church to implement the uniform mode for the greater good and unity of the Church.
The letter also said that the Vatican regards implementing the code as an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion in the Syro-Malabar Church.
The letter asked the bishops to persevere and confirm their ecclesial “walking together” with God’s people, trusting that “time is greater than space” and that “unity prevails over conflict.”
Father Kuriakose Mundadan, presbyteral council secretary of the archdiocese, had asserted the Pope’s mind does not want to impose the uniform mode celebration in all eparchies. Imposing uniform, he warned, would ‘definitely create conflict over unity.”