Caught between the altar and the masses: divisions emerge within the Syro-Malabar Church over the format of the mass

Latent tensions within the powerful Syro-Malabar Church over the unilateral implementation of a standardized format for the Holy Mass divide both clergy and faithful.

PRIME

Through a circular issued this week, Church leaders warned dissidents, including priests and laity, or non-clergy faithful, of excommunication if they celebrate Mass in a style other than that prescribed by the synod of the Church after mass. deadline July 3.

In many parts of Kerala, where the Church has powerful groups, Archbishop Raphael Thattil’s circular sparked angry reactions, including the burning of the circular.

The archbishop’s authority suffered a major and unexpected blow when fellow bishops, neutral about the controversy, wrote a strong response to the circular.

Bishops Mar Ephrem Nariculam, Mar Jose Chittooparambil, Mar Jose Puthenveettil, Mar Kuriakose Bharanikulangara and Mar Sebastian Adayanthrath expressed deep concerns over the circular which they say is authoritarian.

Although the bishops assured their commitment to the synodal decisions on the uniformity of Mass celebrations, they questioned the hasty publication of the circular without prior discussion at ecclesial forums.

They cited Pope Francis’ emphasis on dialogue and unity in the Church, comparing it to what they perceive as a process of enforcing unilateral decisions. “The circular reflects a medieval approach contrary to the spirit of the values ​​advocated by the Second Vatican Council,” the letter said.

The bishops also expressed dismay at the potential long-term consequences of the circular, which they said could deepen divisions and erode faith within the community.

According to the fundamental tenets of Christianity, the Holy Mass is a traditional ritual celebrated in memory of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, which consisted of the breaking of bread and distribution to the disciples.

In the country’s dioceses, the Syro-Malabar Church is the largest Catholic denomination in India. It is also considered the most important among the 22 oriental churches in full communion with the Vatican.

In addition to spirituality, the Church is active in educational, social and health-related areas. It operates 4,860 educational institutions, 262 church institutions and 2,614 health and charitable institutions across the country.

The history of the controversy

The current controversy began in August 2021 when the Church synod which decides its doctrine and manages administration issued a directive to implement a uniform code in all its dioceses and regional administrative units in order to streamline the performance of the mass.

The standardized format, which later gained approval from Pope Francis and the Vatican, was a departure from the traditional format in which the priest faced the laity throughout the Mass.

Under the new standardized format, the priest must only face the congregation for the first half of the Mass, then he can finish the ritual by turning toward the altar.

Those who oppose the proposal say the decision is part of an organized program to liquidate the tradition and identity of the Eastern Church and make it one of many churches affiliated with the global Catholic Church. , without differences in vision and perception.

The greatest opposition to the proposal came from laypeople affiliated with the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, one of the Church’s 35 archeparchies across the country. In Thrissur, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts of Kerala, the archeparchy has nearly five lakh Catholic adherents and 321 parish churches.

Police are camped in the premises of most parishes in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese and the standoff could potentially become a law and order problem.

The controversial circular, which warns priests that they will be ipso facto outside the Catholic communion if they celebrate a mass other than the synodal form after July 3, was to be read in parishes on Sunday June 16.

However, the reading was not done in most parishes in the archdiocese. In parishes like Edappally St. George Church, worshipers booed and jeered a group demanding unification.

At Udayamperoor Church, groups engaged in a heated argument, disrupting the mass taking place inside. Worshipers began to push each other over the issue, leading to police intervention.

Meanwhile, the lay collective Almaaya Munnettam, which coordinates resistance to the synodal mass in the archdiocese, said parishes had completely rejected the circular. The group claims that the circular was not read in any of the 321 churches in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam.

Interestingly, those who opposed the uniform mass are even challenging the authority of the pope, which is a first in the history of Indian churches, as traditionally the decisions of the supreme leader are final.

Today, priests opposed to the uniform mass have requested the intervention of other Indian, Latin and Malankara religious denominations. They also threaten to form an alternative church respecting unique Indian conventions if excommunication is initiated.

When contacted by Hindustan Times, Shaiju Antony and Riju Kanjookkaran of Almaaya Munnettam said, “We will not move back half an inch. »

Dissenters argue that the priest should be allowed to face the congregation throughout the Mass, as has been the practice in the church for about 50 years.

However, the Vatican took a strong stance on implementing a uniform mass format across all parishes of the Syro-Malabar Church and stated that any disobedience to the papal directive would result in canonical punishment for priests.

Papal Delegate Archbishop Cyril Vasil, whom the Vatican has appointed to address and resolve the ongoing conflict, warns that failure to comply with instructions already issued will inevitably result in disciplinary action.

“We agree that there are many disagreements on the idea of ​​having a uniform mass in the diocese of Ernakulam-Angamali. However, in other dioceses, priests and laity are ready to adopt the uniform system to promote the “unity and follow the Pope’s orders. There may be protests and hunger strikes, but the majority would follow the Pope’s open call,” said Fr George Joel, a lay leader who supports the Pope’s order. synod.

“Given that several high-ranking bishops have celebrated Mass under the unified system, we have very limited options,” he added.

On the other hand, Fr. Paul Karedan, former PRO of the church, wants diversity to be protected. “The beauty of the Church lies in its diversity. Eliminating dynamism will diminish the beauty of the Church. We should not sacrifice unity for the sake of uniformity. Instead, we should aim to be more flexible and more acceptable to the people,” he said. said.

Priests in other parts of the country have opposed the challenge to the pope’s authority. They argue that the pope maintains the unity of the Catholic Church and that his supreme power cannot be questioned.

But residents of Ernakulam-Angamaly said they had love and respect for the pope, but believed he could make mistakes. If a mistake has occurred, those responsible should have the courage to acknowledge it to the Pope and rectify it, they said.

“The dispute is simple but serious. It concerns two practices of celebrating the Holy Mass: one, called ad orientem, has the priest facing east towards the altar, while the other, called versus populum, has the priest facing the people In August 2021, the Synod of Syro-Malabar Bishops decreed that the ad orientem tradition be followed uniformly in all the dioceses, the most important of them. they being the majority of priests of Ernakulam-Angamaly diocese, expressed strong opposition and defended it for versus populum,” explained senior priest Father Paul Thelakkatt, known for his independent observations on the issues. linked to the Church.

“Catholic churches around the world have diverse practices when it comes to celebrating Mass. The Latin Catholic Church generally holds shorter Masses than the Syro-Malabar Mass and follows the anti-populum orientation. Catholics Syro-Malabars adhere to the East Syriac Rite, while the Syro-Malabar-Malankara Catholics adhere to the West Syriac Rite,” Thelakkat said.

“The Syro-Malankara mass incorporates a significant amount of Syriac language alongside the regional language. Given this rich diversity of liturgical practices among Catholic churches, the priests of the Ernakulam-Angamaly diocese raise a pertinent question: If each Catholic church adopts a distinct liturgical approach, why can’t the diocese consider adopting the versus populum? ” asked Thelakkatt.