The Eastern-rite Church in the southern Indian Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese is refusing to say the synod-approved Mass. The refusal is in open defiance of a pontifical delegate's directives.

The liturgy row

The archdiocese's priests and the laity want celebrants to face the congregation throughout the Mass. This has been their tradition since 1970.

They refuse to accept a liturgy which the Church's Synod of Bishops approved. In this, the priests must face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.

After hearing Vasil's directive, only six of the 328 parishes in the archdiocese celebrated Mass in the synod-approved uniform mode.

In seven parishes, people stopped the priests from complying with the delegate's order.

An overwhelming majority of priests and parishes stuck to their traditional Mass, in which celebrants faced the congregation.

The delegate

Archbishop Cyril Vasil - the delegate appointed to settle the decades-old liturgy row amicably - has now returned to Rome.

Dissidents say he didn't follow his original mandate and his disciplinary actions have reportedly worsened the situation.

He threatened priests with excommunication if they failed to comply with his ultimatum - where he ordered all the archdiocese's priests to offer the Synod-approved Mass from August 20.

He also sought to close parish churches if they faced protests against his order.

On August 22, Archbishop Andrews Thazhath - the archdiocese's apostolic administrator - removed four junior priests in the archdiocesan seminary for not offering the Synod-approved Mass.

What now?

"I think now we are on a path of never going back. The feeling is to become an independent Catholic Church ... independent of an oppressive system," a senior priest says.

"Now it is clear that the people and the priests in the archdiocese do not want the uniform mode of Mass which the Syro-Malabar Synod wants to force upon us" says Riju Kanjookaran.

He's a spokesperson for the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency, a forum of priests, religious and laity spearheading the protest.

Vasil arbitrarily issued the ultimatum to the priests without even discussing the basic issues that stop them from adopting the uniform mode of Mass, Kanjookaran says.

The dissident group has called for the priests who celebrated the uniform mode for Mass in place of the traditional Mass to vacate their churches immediately.

They say Thazhath is the "main villain" who aggravated the crisis in the archdiocese since his appointment as apostolic administrator on July 30, 2022. They had sought his removal in the past and even boycotted him.

Meanwhile, back in Rome

Vasil "will apprise the pope and the prefect of the oriental congregations of his assessments about the difficulties in implementing the Syro-Malabar Synod-approved uniform mode of Mass in the archdiocese," an official statement from the Syro-Malabar Church says.

He will continue "as pontifical delegate" and will come again as part of his mission.

"Appropriate mechanisms have been put in place in the archdiocese to carry out further action," the statement added.

Source

• UCA News
• UCA News

"Move away from the illegal Mass the archdiocese has been following, where the celebrant faces the people," Archbishop Cyril Vasil (pictured) told the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese laity and priests at Mass last week.

Those who reject the Vatican-approved Mass effectively reject the Catholic Church, he said.

A decades-old controversy surrounds the archdiocese's priests and laity refusing to accept a liturgy approved by their church's synod. The synod is the Syro-Malabar Church and the Vatican's highest decision-making body.

"There will never be God's blessing on illegal protest and rebellion," Vasil said.

He prayed for forgiveness for anything on the part of "anyone who may have given any reason for any real or supposed justification for this rebellion.

"Likewise, on my knees, I also ask you to no longer participate in this sin against our Lord and the Catholic Church.

"Answer in your heart. Are you with the Holy Father?" the Vatican delegate asked.

"Do you wish to remain priests and members of the Catholic Church and of your Syro-Malabar Church?

"Or do you wish to give preference to the voice of troublemakers who lead you towards disobedience to the Holy Father, to the legitimate pastors of your Syro-Malabar Church and to the Catholic Church?"

To this end, the Vatican asked Vasil as its delegate to remove Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese's apostolic administrator.

Syro-Malabar rejects request

Traditionalists want priests to face the altar throughout the Eucharistic celebration, while modernists wanted them to face the congregation.

The Church's synod in 1990 proposed a change to the Mass, asking priests to face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer and face the people at other times, which was seen as a comprise formula.

By November 2022, all 35 dioceses of the Church - except Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese - implemented the synod-approved Mass.

"We have informed our difficulty to engage with him any further," said an Ernakulam-Angamaly priest who was among a five-member delegation sent to speak to Vasil.

He and his confreres handed the Vatican delegate a copy of a memorandum which said they cannot cooperate with him for such a mission.

"We hereby reiterate our loyalty to the Holy Father Pope Francis.

"But, we have reservations to put into practice the exhortation regarding the uniform mode of celebration of Mass," the memorandum said.

"You have categorically stated that there is no room for dialogue and that you have no mandate to report our requests and concerns to the Holy Father... your language and approach are at times threatening rather than of dialogue...

"We have decided not to have any discussion or dialogue with Archbishop Vasil" as he is not ready to listen to us."

Pope is aware

In 2021, the Synod of Bishops prepared an order of the Mass and all its rubrics. The Vatican also approved it for implementation as "the uniform mode of celebration in the entire Syro-Malabar Church," Vasil said. That decision is not negotiable.

In 2022 Francis wrote to the priests, religious and lay faithful "renewing his request for prompt implementation" of the uniform liturgy.

Source

• UCA News
• UCA News