A solution may happen for the liturgical crisis in the Syro-Malabar Church in India

MUMBAI, India – Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and his vicar Mar Joseph Pamplani on Thursday proposed a solution to the ongoing liturgical dispute in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala, a southern state in India.

A press release issued by the Archdiocese Protection Council said the proposals made at a meeting with priests wi had the knowledge and approval of both the Synod of Bishops and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Eastern Churches.

“In his keynote address, Thattil stressed the importance of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese within the Syro-Malabar Church and highlighted the urgent need for resolving the current liturgical crisis,” stated the press note.

Divisions over the way Mass is celebrated in the Syro-Malabar Church began in 2021, when the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church based in Kerala decided to adopt a uniform mode of celebrating the liturgy, which priests face the people during the Liturgy of the Word and then the altar during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, turning around again to address the congregation after communion.

While virtually all of the Church’s dioceses have adopted the new system, clergy and laity in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, by far the largest Syro-Malabar jurisdiction, have rejected it, arguing that facing the people throughout the Mass is a legitimate liturgical variation and one more consistent with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the largest Eastern Rites in the Catholic Church, with 4.53 million members worldwide – over half of them live in Kerala.

Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese Presbyteral Council Secretary Father Kuriakose

Mundadan said the conference of priests in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamly and Thattil “reached some understanding” during their meeting.

He said the discussions on June 19 involved several priests expressing their “deep concerns and anxieties” regarding the liturgical conflict.

“Though the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church ordered the synodal form of celebrating Holy Mass 50-50 formula – half versus Altarum another half versus Populum –  in November 2021, Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese firmly stood for the mode celebration of the Holy Mass versus Populum as the only accepted form,” Mundadan told Crux.

“The priests and the laity rejected the decision of the synod as they have done it in 2021 without any consultation with the priests and the laity of the archdiocese, which is following the custom of versus populum from the Second Vatican Council time onwards,” he said.

He noted the priests and the laity made protests against the forceful implementation of the synodal form of celebrating the Mass during the time the apostolic administers of Archbishop Anndrews Thazhath, Bishop Bosco Puthoor and through the pontifical delegate Archbishop Cyril Vasil.

However, Mundadan said these bishops did not try to have a dialogue with the priests of the archdiocese on this matter.

“It is on June 5 that Archbishop Joseph Pamplany took initiative to convoke the Presbyteral council of the Archdiocese after a long gap of three years,” the priest told Crux.

“The Council was presided over by the Major Archbishop Raphel Thattil and the leading role played by Archbishop Joseph Pamplany. In that meeting a mutual understanding reached regarding the celebration of the Holy Mass in the parishes of the archdiocese,” he said.

“During the Sundays and days of obligation one Holy Mass in the Synodal form is to be celebrated in the parishes of the archdiocese. With this agreement all other crises with regards to the celebration of the Holy Mass would be ended,” Mundadan explained.