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.
Are you not surprised about the lay people and a single diocesan priests long standing angaist vatican and synodal bishops!!! Think is it possible at all… I think never. …..The black hands behind this plot must be CRI member congregations extablished their ancher in Ernakulam alvua amgamali like areas… The generalate houses, provincial houses and retreat centers in this diocese must be working behind it over day and night to reject the proposals of the synodal formula which is a historical and psychological disagreement of religious priests since many decades. You also will see its historical visible evidences of syromalabar religious priests (pontifical) they translated the Taksa (liturgical text) different from the main stream in outside kerala circles and not opposed by any synodal bishop till this date. I feel pity for the newly appointed administrator….Because syromalabar synod doesn’t have backbone since its inception. so religious bishops with their congregations’ antisynodal scholars’ help what they did was going on for decades without any legal action. Here the diocesan priests and laymen in are really the victims. Rather certain religious congregational figures and each bishop of syromalabar are the real culprits. unfortunately the allegation is targeted wrongly on ernakulam priests and laypeople… Satyameva jay de
The changes brought about by Vatican Council II should apply to the Roman Catholic Church and the
Syro-Malabar Church, alike, especially in the matter of Holy Mass, where the priest faces the congregation throughout the Mass. Then, why is this further change by
50 : 50 formula in the Syro-Malabar
Church? Why can’t there be unity and uniformity in the Eucharistic celebration, in what we call One, Holy, Catholic & Apostolic Church?
It’s high time that Rome n Ernakulam Angamaly Diocese learn to listen than bulldoze as it has been used to. If they remain adamant n arrogant they may lead to the declaration of Independent Church
It is politics. People of God vs People of Power. In conscience one need to ask, what is right. Facing people or facing the Altar is not the question, but facing God of a people must take precedence. Are there not any other challenging issues facing the churches of India today?
I would suggest that the priests and people of Ernakualm- Angamay diocese should follow the direction of the Pope.
Eastern church is blackmailing Vatican .. looks like norm in Kerala
It is a healthy and wise process, to declare the Archdiocese of Ernakulam Angamaly, as an independent Church, otherwise the adamant and arrogant Catholic Church, headed by the Vatican, including the Synod of Syro Malabar Church, will never realize their foolishness and idiosyncrasies in the name of unity in Uniformity.
I wonder why the present Pope Francis, who is convincingly advocating, unity in diversity along with decentralization, cannot understand and respect the genuine, faithful sentiments of, both the laity and the clergy of the arch diocese of Ernakulam Angamaly.
Is not imposition of something, whether in the liturgy or outside liturgy, a direct blocking of the grace of Jesus Christ and working of the Holy Spirit?
Canute Barboza, Udupi
This is absolutely ridiculous! The Pope has bent and continues to bend forward, backwards and sidewards before China with regard to what God alone knows he wants to achieve by means of signing/renewing an agreement that clearly gives XI all the rights he wants to do whatever he wants with the Underground Church, to the extent that Francis has maintained stoic silence with the regard to the arrest of Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong. The Church has for long established the practice of practice of insitituting ‘Personal Prelatures’ in the UK and elsewhere for Anglican Clergy converting to the Catholic Faith with their families whereby those priests are allowed to carry on their ministry as reordained priests. There’s so much else happening around the globe in terms of exceptions and allowances with regard to the practice of the Faith at both clerical and lay levels. So what the heck is this tamasha continuing in the Church in Kerala, the brouhaha reaching a stage of a split? What on Earth is wrong with allowing an entire diocese to continue celebrating its liturgy in a way that it has for the past five decades? After all, isn’t the Latin Rite already into the act of celebrating the Eucharist with the Celebrant facing the congregation post Vatican II? As long as the Liturgy does not deviate from the rubrics, why can’t the Pope see sense in the demand and yield rather than allow a split? What will Thazath and others concerned going to benefit from such a formal division anyway?
Unfortunate that Matters of India give an impression as though another denomination is being formed
News highly exaggerated and dramatized by Riju.
Let the local Catholics people decide the manner of celebrating Eucharistic Fellowship!
Dictatorial posture is out of place!
Whether the priest does the service looking at the people or the other side , request is only one make the speech short only 3 minutes and all these issues can be sorted , please dont bring this issue a major one , peace should be from the heart and not fight for a particular persons ego,
Demeaning Holy Mass for no issue at all
God is not looking whether the preist is looking at the people or to the alter
With all these disputes the purpose of mass is gone and prayers in some halls is sufficient
People’s power to the fore.