Ernakulam-Angamaly priests and faithful defy papal delegate's ultimatum
Only a handful of parishes out of 325 in the archdiocese at the center of the Syro-Malabar clash have been celebrating the liturgy with the "unified rite" despite Msgr. Vasil's order. Apostolic administrator Msgr. Thazhath: "Those who do not obey the pope place themselves outside the Church." Perplexity grows among Indian Catholics over this affair, which is intertwined with the synodal listening path to which Pope Francis has called dioceses around the world.
Kochi (AsiaNews) - The ultimatum of the papal delegate Msgr. Cyril Vasil has proved fruitless in the standoff that has divided the Syro-Malabar Church for two years. Despite the warning about the canonical sanctions for transgressors, on Sunday 20 August almost all of the Eucharistic celebrations in the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly still took place with the rite in which the priest faces the faithful throughout the celebration, yet again rejecting a the "unified liturgy" adopted two years ago by the Synod of this Eastern rite Church and which with a compromise solution between three different methods in use prescribes that the celebrant faces the altar in the central part of the Holy Qurbana.
According to data provided by the promoters of the protest, only in 6 churches out of 325 was the liturgy celebrated according to the "unified rite", approved by the Vatican. In two Kottakkavu churches, St. Thomas Forane Church and Manjapra Holy Cross, the faithful abandoned the liturgy once they found that the priest was following the rite wanted by the Syro-Malabar Synod.
Even in St Mary's cathedral - the primatial church, which remained closed for a long time due to liturgical tensions - a hundred parishioners camped inside the complex from dawn to thwart any attempt by the new rector of the basilica, Fr. Antony Puthavelil (who took office in early August after the arrival of the papal delegate) to celebrate with the "unified rite".
In the end it was Fr. Poothavelil to give up, explaining that a Mass cannot be celebrated in the midst of so much tension. Fr. Jose Vailikodath, secretary of the Archdiocese's Protection Council, claims that "the delegate's plan was a real fiasco for the archdiocese", while the question of the legitimacy of Msgr. Vasil was also challenged before the civil judiciary.
For his part, in a note published on the website of the Syro-Malabar Church, the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly - archbishop Andrews Thazhath who is also president of the Indian Bishops' Conference (CBCI) - reaffirms that the only rite permitted Eucharistic is the one approved by the Synod and that disobeying means placing yourself outside the Church.
"This is the pope's decision and everyone is bound to obey" he wrote, recalling that "At ordination each priest swore on the Bible to obey the pope and the bishops". Msgr Thazhath, archbishop of Trichur, was appointed apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly by Pope Francis on 30 July 2022 after the metropolitan vicar, archbishop Antony Kariyil, had tendered his resignation for failing to resolve the liturgical conflict. The papal delegate Msgr. Vasil was sent after Archbishop Thazhath failed to implement Uniform Mass in Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.
Meanwhile, the level reached by the clash between the Syro-Malabarese is also raising perplexity in the rest of the Indian Catholic communities. On the Catholic website MattersIndia Fr. George Pattery, former president of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia, complains about "the use of the Eucharist as a warning weapon" by Msgr. Vasil.
"For Jesus, the Eucharist should lead to washing one another's feet, and not to ritual theories on purity and pollution, something that Jesus strongly questioned", commented the Jesuit from Calcutta, originally from of Kerala. While the theologian Astrid Lobo Gajiwala from Mumbai says she finds it sadly ironic that "these trials of strength are being used at a time when the universal Church has already spent two years discussing ways to build a synodal Church, in which the voices of all are heard".
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