Syro-Malabar bishops struggle in search for liturgy compromise

An online session of the Syro-Malabar synod of bishops convened on 14 June to find a solution their Church’s bitter liturgical dispute.

Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil of Ernakulam-Angamaly chaired the meeting, which was not able to reach an agreement. One attendee reported that a number of bishops “wanted the synod to take a middle path accommodating the priests and the faithful”. The synod was due to meet again on 19 June.

Priests and laity in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the Church’s primatial see, have refused to adopt the “uniform rite” of the Syro-Malabar liturgy, the Holy Qurbana, since the synod voted to mandate it August 2021.

The uniform rite, in which the priest celebrates the Liturgy of the Eucharist ad orientem, was adopted as part of the “de-Latinisation” pursued in recent decades by Eastern-rite Churches in communion with Rome. 

However, parishes in Ernakulam-Angamaly have remained attached to the versus populum liturgy and have refused to change it despite restrictions and Vatican intervention.

The synod met last week after the Church leadership set a deadline for priests to accept the uniform rite.

A pastoral letter dated 9 June and signed by Major Archbishop Thattil and Bishop Bosco Puthur, the apostolic administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly, said that any liturgy other than the uniform rite would be invalid after 4 July – no longer meeting the Sunday obligation – and that any priest celebrating it would be excommunicated.

In addition, it required seminarians and deacons to sign a document committing to celebrate the uniform rite as a condition of ordination, and said priests without the bishops’ sanction would not be allowed to administer parishes or Church institutions.

Citing the bishops’ meeting with Pope Francis last month to discuss the dispute, the letter said he had emphasized the importance of obedience. All parishes were required to read out the circular on 16 June.

Many refused to acknowledge the letter, and it was burned in several parishes. “Why [send] this pastoral letter before the synod?” said Lida Jacob, a retired bureaucrat and prominent opponent of the uniform rite. “Why the farce of a synod when you have already decided?”

She told The Tablet: “The dispute is a trivial matter. An issue being made out of a non-issue. We are just asking for a change in rubric not the text of the Holy Mass. But this simple demand is being treated as a crime.”

Jacob was part of the four-member lay delegation that met Pope Francis last month to explain their insistence on the versus populum liturgy. They told him that it reflected local tradition and was in keeping with the liturgical teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

“We just apprised the Holy Father of our position which was not made known to him by the bishops. We did not go to complain against anyone,” she said.

The Syro-Malabar bishops met Pope Francis shortly after the lay delegation’s visit. According to a church source, the Pope told them he wanted an amicable resolution. However, he insisted he could not enforce his writ as the Syro-Malabar Church is a sui juris or self-governing body.

Speaking to Vatican Radio after the meeting, Archbishop Thattil said the dispute had been “exaggerated by the media, especially social media.

“We shall not exaggerate the controversy beyond its real, actual situation,” he said, insisting it was “a temporary controversy that can be settled by amicable discussions and friendly approaches”.

Jacob said “the consequences of the dispute are there to see” in Ernakulam-Angamaly. “The youth are missing from the church. You will find only elders or children who are forced to come for catechism classes.”

She warned of the danger of violence and possible schism if the bishops could not find a compromise. 

“But we are for peace and harmony, we don’t want violence. We don’t want the police or state to interfere in our religious matters. However, if the bishops stick to their stand and refuse to come to an amicable solution, then the worst fears will come true.”

In response to the letter, the secretary of the archeparchy’s council of priests Fr Kuriakose Mundadan said that the clergy “want to be free from the Syro-Malabar synod” and “to remain as an independent metropolitan Church under Pope Francis”. He denied that the synod had canonical authority to excommunicate priests for refusing the uniform rite.

K.P. Fabian, a former Indian ambassador to Italy who was part of the lay delegation that met the Pope, doubted that the synod would reach a compromise. He told The Tablet it was “expected to take a tough line and in such a scenario, the situation would only get worse”.

On 15 June, a purported draft of the bishops’ pastoral letter appeared online, but the Church authorities denied it was their work and filed a police complaint against its circulation.

The same day, lay activists in Ernakulam-Angamaly claimed that Puthur’s predecessor as apostolic administrator, Archbishop Andrew Thazhath, had made unfounded allegations against the archeparchy in a letter to the Holy See in October last year.

In response, the Church’s public relations officer Fr Anthony Vadakkekra told The Tablet that the letter – which the activists published – was a report on the archeparchy which Thazhath was required to submit as apostolic administrator.

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