By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, Oct 21, 2022: The priests and lay people of a Catholic archdiocese in the Syro-Malabar Church have snapped their ties with the Vatican appointed administrator as the dispute over Mass celebration entered a new phase.
Father Jose Vailikodath, senior priest and public relations officer of Archdiocesan Protection Committee (of priests), in a statement issued on October 18 said, “377 priests from 16 forane churches in the archdiocese have signed the resolution to permanently boycott” the apostolic administrator Archbishop Andrews Thazhath.
The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese has 460 diocesan priests and among them 450 supported the resolution even though some could not sign it as they were away and serving outside the archdiocese.
The Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT), a lay people’s movement in the archdiocese, has also supported the boycott call.
“We are with our priests and will not allow the administrator to enter our churches,” Riju Kanjookaran, AMT spokesperson told Matters India on October 21.
The priests and lay people have also announced to discontinue all financial contributions from parishes to the Archbishop’s House and restrain the entry of the administrator and his supporters to parishes and other Church run institutions with effect from October 18.
They allege that the administrator has betrayed them and compromised with the interests of the archdiocese.
No priest in the archdiocese will report to the administrator nor take orders or communication from him.
The priests also said they will deal with all issues that mandated the consent of the administrator at forane level openly challenging the authority of the administrator who they say is “unfit to the office.”
This move, according to Church officials who did not want to be named, has serious repercussion as “it looks like an open challenge to the authority of Vatican.”
Archbishop Thazhath on July 30 took over as the administrator after the apostolic nuncio forced the resignation of Metropolitan Vicar Archbishop Antony Kariyil. Archbishop Thazhath has been mandated to settle the over five-decade long Mass dispute among other issues.
The priests and the laity opposed Archbishop Thazhath’s appointment accusing him of manipulating to get Archbishop Kariyil’s resignation. However the resentment against the administrator took a turn on September 30 when he ordered the priests to offer Synod approved Mass with immediate effect.
Archbishop Thazhath also withdrew dispensation granted to the archdiocese by his predecessor to offer Mass with the celebrant facing the congregation instead of the 50:50 formula decided by the Church’s Synod that requires priests to face the altar with his back to the congregation during the Eucharistic prayer until Communion.
Earlier the AMT had called for boycott of the administrator and threatened to block his entry into the Archbishop’s House and started round the clock vigil around the Archbishop’s house from October 16.
Archbishop Thazhath, however, entered the Archbishop’s House on October 17 night with the help of police.
A day later the priests and the lay people snapped their ties the administrator, who is also the Archbishop of Trichur archdiocese, 75 km north.
Archbishop Thazhath reportedly left Ernakulam-Angamaly Archbishop’s House for Trichur on October 19 after the police force from the Archbishop’s House was withdrawn under pressure from the priests.
The liturgical dispute in the Syro-Malabar Church is more than five-decade old when the Church initiated a revision of its liturgy.
The Synod of Bishops in 1999 agreed to introduce the 50:50 Synod Mass in place of traditional Mass and but it had to shelve the decision following a major controversy.
This, however, was revived in August 2021 when the synod decided to implement the 1999 decision to bring uniformity in Mass celebrations across all dioceses saying it would bring more unity among its members.
All but Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese among the Church’s 35 dioceses have begun celebrating the synod-approved Mass with from November after initial protests from some diocese.
Priests and people supporting the traditional Mass blamed the Synod for reviving a dead issue and creating discord in the Church in the name of uniformity.
The priests and faithful in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese asserted that they would not adopt the Synod Mass and appealed the Vatican to accord a liturgy variant status to their Mass form.
The officials of the Syro-Malabar Church have not responded to the new development yet.
Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese makes up 10 percent of 55 million members of the Syro-Malabar Church. This is also the seat of its patriarch Cardinal George Alencherry.