Posted on 03/31/2022 5:51:41 PM PDT by marshmallow
Majority of priests and laity in Eastern-rite Ernakulum-Angamaly Archdiocese insist on their way of celebrating Mass
Priests and laity in an Eastern-rite archdiocese in India have appealed to Pope Francis to consider their way of celebrating Mass as “a liturgy variant” to settle a five-decades-old dispute.
An overwhelming 435 of the 465 priests in Ernakulum-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church in the southern state of Kerala have signed a memorandum urging the Vatican to accept its order of the Mass even though it differs from what the bishops’ synod decrees.
Priests across the archdiocese have celebrated Mass facing the congregation for decades but it suddenly became unacceptable after the Syro-Malabar bishops’ synod decided that priests should celebrate the Eucharistic prayer facing the altar.
The synod decreed that all priests “will face the congregation until the Eucharistic prayer, and then again from communion to the end of the Mass. From Eucharistic prayers until communion, the priest will face the altar.”
The synod’s August 2021 decision also set April 17 as the deadline to comply with its decision aimed at ushering in uniformity in the liturgy.
“We have every right to follow our traditional Holy Mass in which the priests face the congregation throughout as per the Indian laws and also of the customary laws of Vatican,” said Riju Kanjookaran of the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency.
“Either the Vatican should legalize our liturgy or accord it a special liturgy variant status or allow our archdiocese to function as an independent diocese directly attached to the Vatican,” Kanjookaran told UCA News on March 25.
(Excerpt) Read more at ucanews.com ...
“Liturgy Row”
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Sounds like a place where you’d put statues. “Saint Francis’ has a statue on Liturgy Row!”.
"Liturgy variants" have been the norm since VC II. The only prohibited Mass is the Traditional Latin Mass in Frankenchurch.
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