By Thomas Scaria
Kochi, Jan 26, 2026: The leaders of a dissident group who fought for the “people-facing Mass” has won most seats in the newly constituted pastoral council of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
The council with Shaiju Antony as the secretary and Jaini Samraj as the joint secretary will control the pastoral council decisions for the next three years.
Antony has led the movement to restore the traditional people-facing Mass in the archdiocese against a mode imposed by the Syro-Malabar bishops’ synod.
Riju Kanjookaran, Nimmy Antony and Father Sunny Kalapurackal were also elected to the pastoral council executive committee, and Boby John Malayil to lead the Kerala Catholic Council.
The elections were held January 24 at Kaloor Renewal Centre in the presence of Syro-Malabar Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and Apostolic Vicar Archbishop Joseph Pamplany. The archdiocesan chancellor Father Antony Vazhakala and vice chancellor Father Paul Meledath acted as returning officers.
Later, speaking to Matters India, Kanjookaran, who is the spokesperson of the laity movement in the archdiocese, said some 170 representatives of various forane churches and parishes took part in the elections. “More than half of them are active members of the liturgical movement that stood for the people-facing Mass the archdiocese has celebrated since it implemented the Vatican II decisions on liturgy.
The Syro-Malabar Church announced a resolution to the decades-long liturgy dispute in the archdiocese in June 2025.
Archbishop Thattil said both parties agreed that priest would celebrate one Mass in the synod’s uniform mode on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
A circular letter signed by the major archdiocese and Archbishop Pamplany, who was tasked with resolving the dispute, announced the compromise formula.
The liturgy dispute reached a crisis in 2021 when the Syro-Malabar Synod made the uniform mode mandatory in all its 35 dioceses. All except Ernakulam-Angamaly accepted the instruction.
The resistance led to violent clashes, legal cases, the closure of St Mary’s Basilica Cathedral in Ernakulam, and the burning of official circulars. The archdiocese’s 500,000 faithful and 470 priests defied threats of penal action, including excommunication.
However, the groups that support the Synodal Mass protested in the cathedral premises and objected to the new decisions of the Synod to grant exceptions to the archdiocese.
Archbishop Pamplany has requested the Kerala High Court to remove the protestors to ensure peace and harmony in the church.