India’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church begins synod amid liturgical row

ERNAKULAM, India (OSV News) — A crucial meeting of the synod of bishops of the India-based Eastern Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has begun amid a decades-old liturgical dispute over the rubrics of the Mass.

Some 54 active and retired bishops will attend the Jan. 6-11 meeting at Mount St. Thomas, headquarters of the Church in Crisis in the southern state of Kerala.

“The bishops will discuss all important issues that affect the Church and society as a whole,” Father Antony Vadakkekara, spokesperson for the Syro-Malabar Church, told UCA News on January 6.

The Vincentian priest, however, refused to disclose specific details about the agenda, saying: “We generally do not disclose the meeting agenda in advance. »

The synod, the highest decision-making body of the local Church, assumes particular importance as a majority of priests and laity of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church rejected the official liturgy, in which the celebrant faces the altar during the Eucharist. prayer.

They wish to continue their traditional mass, during which the celebrant faces the congregation.

The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese has over half a million Catholics and is also the seat of the head of the Church, Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil.

Priests and lay people at war also continue to boycott Archbishop Bosco Puthur, the apostolic administrator, and members of his curia after the breakdown of a truce concluded in July 2024.

Father Vadakkekara sidestepped the question of whether the bishops would hold further talks with the priests and laity of the troubled archdiocese.

A Church official, however, confirmed that priests and lay leaders have informed some bishops that “there will be no compromise on our position.”

“We have been informed that the apostolic administrator and his curia should honor the July 2024 agreement,” an archdiocesan official who wished to remain anonymous told UCA News on January 6.

According to the July agreement, priests and laity agreed to celebrate Mass according to official rubrics on Sundays and other feast days in each parish. During the official liturgy, the celebrant faces the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.

However, the peace agreement was broken in October after Bishop Puthur insisted that deacons declare in writing that they would only celebrate official Mass after their priestly ordination.

The church leader said: “Any attempt to impose the synodal mass on us will not be accepted. … The boycott will continue and no orders will be accepted.”

Deacons who were ordained after making a written declaration, as required by Bishop Puthur, were not authorized by parishioners to celebrate Mass in their home parish.

The decades-old liturgical conflict deepened further on December 3, when parishioners blocked the entry of newly appointed administrative priests into three parishes.

Parishioners gathered in front of the main gates of parishes in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. They did not allow the administrators appointed by Bishop Puthur to enter the church premises.

They also shouted slogans against the apostolic administrator, accusing him of creating further unrest during the Advent season by appointing administrators rather than parish priests.

The priests and laity further intensified their defiance when four priests whom Bishop Puthur had excluded from parish ministry concelebrated Mass with other priests from their parishes.

Hundreds of Catholics and dozens of priests joined the excluded priests.

The provocative actions began on December 20, two days after Bishop Puthur initiated disciplinary measures for disobeying a church decree prohibiting attending official mass in their parishes.

The four priests defied his order and continued to lead the parishes with the support of the laity. They also filed complaints in a local court to challenge this arbitrary measure.

“Our position is clear. Suppose the synod wants a lasting solution to the liturgical conflict. In this case, he should honor the July agreement,” said Riju Kanjookaran, spokesperson for the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency, a body of priests, religious and lay people who are leading the protest in support of their traditional Mass.

Priests and lay people also announced a three-day hunger strike, from January 7 to 9. It will be held on the roadside near the Syro-Malabar St. Mary’s Basilica-Cathedral in Ernakulam district. Father Joyce Kaithakottil, one of the rebel priests, will lead the hunger strike, which will end with a demonstration in front of the church.

The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest Eastern Catholic Church. It has 5 million faithful spread across 35 dioceses in India and abroad.

Although the liturgical conflict has lasted for more than five decades, except the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, other dioceses have adopted the official mass approved by the synod since November 2021.

This prolonged conflict has resulted in clashes, hunger strikes, burning of effigies, legal proceedings and the closure of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ernakulam.

UCA News, an independent Catholic news service covering East, South and Southeast Asia, co-authored this article.

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