By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, July 30, 2022: Pope Francis on July 30 appointed Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, a world renowned expert in the Oriental Code of Canon Law, as the apostolic administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
The Syro-Malabar archdiocese was lying vacant since July 26 when its metropolitan vicar Archbishop Archbishop Antony Kariyil tendered his resignation to Apostolic Nuncio to India Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli at the residence of the Ernakulam archbishop.
Archbishop Kariyil’s resignation was seen as the fall out of his inability to convince the priests and laity in the archdiocese to follow the uniform mode of celebrating Mass as mandated by the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church.
Majority of the priests and lay people in the archdiocese want to retain the traditional way of offering Mass where the priest faces the congregation.
The Pope appointed Archbishop Thazhath, a known supporter of the uniform mode, according to the Oriental Code of Canon Law.
The 70-year-old prelate will continue as the metropolitan archbishop of Trichur Syro Malar Archdiocese.
Archbishop Thazhath was born at Pudukkad in Trichur district on December 13, 1951. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Trichur on March 14, 1977.
He holds Bachelor’s Degree in Theology and a doctorate in Eastern Canon Law form the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome. He was nominated the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Trichur on March 19, 2004 when he was serving as the president of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Ordinary Tribunal of Ernakulam – Angamaly, the Syncellus of the Archeparchy, the working chairman and managing director of Jeevan Telecasting Corporation and the president of the Oriental Canon Law Society of India.
His episcopal ordination was on May 1, 2004. He succeeded as the Trichur archbishop on January 22, 2007. He was the secretary general and president of the Kerala Catholic Bishop’s Council and the chairman of the KCBC Education Commission. He was the first vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
In 2021, Pope Francis appointed him as one of the members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, a dicastery of the Roman Curia that interprets the laws of the Church.
One of his major tasks in the new post is to implement the uniform mode in the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
The dispute over the Eucharistic liturgy is more than four decades old. The Synod of Bishops in 1999 ruled that the priest “will face the congregation until the Eucharistic prayer, and then again from communion to the end of the Mass. From Eucharistic prayers until Communion, the priest will face the altar.”
In August 2021, the Syro-Malabar Church decided to implement the uniform Mass in all its 35 dioceses in India and overseas in a bid to find a permanent solution to the liturgical dispute and foster unity.
The synod’s formula, seen as a compromise requires priests to face the congregation during the start and concluding parts of the Mass but face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.
Barring the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, all Syro-Malabar dioceses implemented the synod decision with effect from November 2021.
Tradition is in favour of the new implementation for having Qurbana celebrated facing East. This way of celebrating as a 2000 years practice behind. It has its origin in the way the apostles themselves celebrated (facing the East). It is an apostolic custom. Facing people is a new practice that is not consonant with tradition and it has norhing to do wirh the last Council who doesn’t speak about orientation!.
This is a retrograde step for which the people have replied with 60,000 gathering to oppose the diktat. The Nuncio also comes across in very poor light.
Surprising to observe the alacrity with which the Vatican demanded the resignation of Archbishop Kuriyil because of a liturgical dispute.
On the other hand, the silence regarding two infamous bishops – Franco Mulakkal (Jalandhar) and K. A. William (Mysore) – is troubling.
What if this new Administrator fails to implement the uniform mode of the liturgy in the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly??? Will he be “sacked or forced to resign” like Antony Kariyil?
When there are so many burning issues like drug abuse by youth, unemployment, poverty, corruptions and clerical sex scandals in the church, these Vatican-level officials are focusing on the liturgy. What a contradictory witness to Jesus and his Kingdom Values! NERO FIDDLED WHILE ROME BURNT!