Warring priests and laity keep out top hierarchy of Syro-Malabar Church from Dec. 21 Eucharistic celebrations
The Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly began its year-long centenary celebrations in Kerala state in Southern India on Dec. 21. (Photo supplied)
The Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church remains a divided house as the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly launched year-long celebrations to mark its centenary.
Around 200 priests from the archdiocese concelebrated Mass led by Father Antony Narikulam, rector of the St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, on Dec. 21. No bishops attended it.
Father Kuriakose Mundadan, secretary of the council of priests, delivered the message of the celebrations that entail year-long events, which were unveiled at a public meeting later.
The inaugural Eucharist was held at a college close to Mount St. Thomas, the headquarters of the Church and home to its head, Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry.
The archdiocese is the seat of the Major Archbishop.
However, the cardinal, Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, and other prelates were conspicuous by their absence at the opening Eucharist.
Father Jose Vithayathil, the senior-most priest in the archdiocese, lit the ceremonial lamp to mark the occasion and special candles were lit across all the churches in the archdiocese.
Father Mundadan told UCA News that since Ernakulam-Angamaly was the first archdiocese of the church, its centenary also becomes the centenary of establishing the Church’s hierarchy.
“But celebrations were restricted to the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese,” Father Mundadan told UCA News when asked about the absence of bishops.
“We did not invite the top hierarchy as they were dead against our traditional mass and we planned the inaugural mass in our traditional format,” he added.
Father Antony Vadakkekara, the spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church, though refused to comment.
“It is not appropriate for me to make any comment at this juncture as efforts are underway to establish peace and harmony in the archdiocese. Let us be optimistic and continue our earnest prayers for the same,” he said.
The Church is split over a nearly five-decade-old liturgy dispute. The dispute was aggravated after the Church’s synod in August 2021 decided to implement a “uniform mode of mass” in all its 32 dioceses. It required the priest to face the altar against the congregation during the Eucharistic prayer to Communion.
A majority of priests and lay people in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese opposed the decision. They wanted to continue with the traditional mass in which the priest faces the congregation throughout.
The dispute took an ugly turn in October when Archbishop Thazhath, soon after he was appointed administrator of the archdiocese, unilaterally ordered priests to adopt the synod-approved mass in all its parishes and institutions.
The situation was further vitiated on Nov. 21 when the priests and lay people took control of the Archbishop’s House and denied entry to Archbishop Thazhath, who wanted to celebrate the synod-approved Mass inside his Cathedral on Nov. 27.
The people and priests denied him entry into the Archbishop’s House, which led to violence. The prelate, meanwhile, approached Kerala high court seeking police protection for him. It was granted on Dec. 5.
Archbishop Thazhath with help of police entered the Archbishop’s House and removed the priests and laity from it.
He also appointed Father Antony Puthuvelil as an administrator of the St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica and attempted to offer synod mass on Dec. 20. But it was again prevented by priests and laity.
“We will not allow anyone to celebrate synod mass in our archdiocese,” says Riju Kanjookaran, the spokesperson of the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT), who repeated the demand for a “liturgy variant” status to the traditional mass.
Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly is the second largest diocese in India with more than half a million Catholics, which is roughly 10 percent of the entire membership of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The Vatican elevated Ernakulam-Angamaly to the hierarchy of the Syro-Malabar Church on Dec. 21, 1923.
The Oriental Church traces its origins to St. Thomas the Apostle who is believed to have visited India in AD 52. It is among the 23 Eastern rite Catholic Churches in full communion with the Vatican.
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