By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, Nov 22, 2022: The decades-long liturgical dispute in an Eastern rite archdiocese in India has reached an “explosive stage” with the priests and faithful launching an indefinite protest against their apostolic administrator.
More than 500,000 Catholics of the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly along with 460 priests on November 21 launched the protest demanding the “liturgy variant” status to their traditional Mass and rejected the Synod Mass at any cost.
The protestors have camped inside the Archbishop’s House in Kochi, the commercial capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala where the Syro-Malabar Church is based.
Their statement issued on the same day said they would not allow Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the apostolic administrator, to enter any archdiocesan institution.
“Our people including priests will not move out from the Archbishop’s House until our demands are recognized,” said Riju Kanjookaran, the spokesperson of Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT).
A protester who preferred anonymity told Matters India that their archdiocese is likely to declare it as an independent Church.
“We have been pleading to the Vatican and the Synod of Syro-Malabar Church for justice but both of them are adamant in their egos rather than listening to us. How long can we continue like this? There should be an end either in or out,” he added.
The protest against Archbishop Thazhath took a dramatic turn when he instructed the St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica parish priest to make arrangement for the apostolic administrator to celebrate Mass on November 27 as approved by the bishops’ synod in a bid to bring uniformity in celebrating liturgy.
The apostolic administrator has also directed the rector of the archdiocese’s Sacred Heart Minor Seminary to begin celebrating the synod approved Mass.
In the synod Mass the celebrant faces the congregation and the altar in a 50:50 formula whereas in the archdiocese of Ernakulam the celebrant has been facing the congregation throughout the Mass for more than 50 years.
The priests and the faithful of the archdiocese have opposed the synod Mass the Synod approved in August 2021. Except Ernakulam-Angamaly, all the 35 dioceses of the Syro-Malabar Church have complied with it November 28, 2021.
The archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly is the largest Syro-Malabar diocese and the second largest Catholic diocese in India. It is home to 10 percent of around 5.5 million Catholics of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The Ernakulam-Angamaly Catholics have urged the Vatican to grant the “liturgy variant” status to their traditional Mass, but the administrator has refused to accept it and ordered priests to follow the synod decision.
Subsequently, the priests and the laity have boycotted the administrator, who continues to rule the archdiocese reportedly with the support of police whenever, he visits the Archbishop’s House.
“We will not call off our battle until our demand is met,” asserted Father Sebastian Thaliyan, the convener of the Archdiocesan Protection Committee at the Archbishop’s House.
Kanjookaran told Matters India on November 22 that the priests and laity will stay inside the Archbishop’s House until their demands are met.
He also accused Archbishop Thazhath of playing politics and misleading the Vatican about the genuine concerns of Catholics of the archdiocese and appealed the Vatican to “immediately depute an impartial team to listen to us.”
“In case of any difficulty, we are ready to meet Pope along with its administrator so that we will come to know if the administrator had informed him (Pope) about our demands,” the lay leader added.
The protesters also accused the Syro-Malabar Synod of playing politics and trying to divide the Church in the name of uniformity.
A delegation of parish representatives met the Cathedral parish priest and the minor seminary rector and appealed them not to comply with Archbishop Thazhath’s order.
The delegation told them to be ready to pay for the dire consequences in case they celebrate the Synod Mass in the cathedral or the minor seminary against the sentiments of the faithful and priests.
Both of them not only agreed to their demand but also pledged them their full support.
Even some parents also hinted that in case the seminary opts for the Synod Mass they might withdraw their children.
Archbishop Thazhath, who heads the archdiocese of Trichur, was recently elected the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, an apex body of bishops belonging to all three ritual Churches in India.