By Matters India Reporter
Knock, May 16, 2023: The liturgy dispute in India’s Syro-Malabar Church was raised at an annual pilgrimage to an international Eucharistic and Marian Shrine in Ireland’s Knock town.
Around 4,000 Catholics attended the May 13 pilgrimage of the Syro Malabar Community living in Ireland that was led by Bishop Stephen Chirappanath, the Apostolic Visitor of the Syro Malabar Catholics in Europe.
During the pilgrimage, members of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Syro-Malabar archdiocese voiced their concern for their home archdiocese. This is the first time the Catholics from Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese raised their concerns openly in Ireland, said Binu Thomas, one of the organizers.
The Ernakulam Angamaly Catholics carried placards saying, “We need Holy Mass Ad populum in communion with Jesus Christ,” “Mother Mary, Save Ernakulam Angamaly Major Archiepiscopal Church,” and “Holy Mary Help us to open Ernakulam Basilica.”
George Palissery, one of the Ernakulam archdiocese Catholics, recalled that the Syro Malabar Mass was celebrated in Ireland for decades facing people and it was changed recently without taking the people into consideration.
Laiju Jose, another member said, “We sent several letters to Bishop Stephen [Chirappanath] for an appointment, but he neglected us. We wanted to raise our concerns publicly.”
Simson Devassy from Dublin said the trust of the faithful in the Catholic Church will be lost if the church does not listen to them even in the year of Synod on Synodality.
Ernakulam Angamaly archdiocese is in the middle of a pastoral crisis followed by the land scam case involving Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, the Church’s leader, and the imposition of a new liturgy by Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Andrews Thazhath.
The controversy has led to the closure of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ernakulam or Kochi since Christmas Eve.
Thomas said with the pilgrimage in Ireland, the Ernakulam Angamaly issues have spread to more countries. Earlier in May, Catholics protested in Rome when the permanent synod of the Syro-Malabar Church from Kerala met the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches on the issue.
Knock, some 210 km northwest of Dublin, Ireland capital, has welcome pilgrims from all over the world since a Marian apparition on August 21, 1879. The shrine provided a peaceful, contemplative space for pilgrims to pray, to reflect and to reconnect.