Catholics Burn Vatican Appointee’s Circular on Indian Liturgy Row

UCANews ^ | 6/26/23

[marshmallow]

Archbishop Andrews Thazhath’s circular insisted on following synod-approved Mass rejected by the majority of priests and laity

In a public protest against the Vatican-appointed apostolic administrator of an Indian archdiocese, a group of lay people burnt his circular that insisted on a controversial form of Mass, which has been the center of a five-decade-old liturgical dispute.

Parishioners of the St.Mary’s Basilica, the Cathedral in Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, burnt copies of the circular of their Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Andrews Thazhath on June 26 in Kochi city, the commercial capital of southern Kerala state.

The cathedral, the seat of the Major Archbishop of the Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church, is closed since December 2022 following physical violence inside it over the liturgy dispute.

The majority of the priests and laity in the archdiocese have rejected an order of the Mass approved by the Church’s synod, which demanded priests turn to the altar during the Eucharistic prayer. The archdiocesan laity and priests want the celebrants to face the people throughout the Mass.

The dispute has led the synod to have a special gathering this month, which agreed to request the Vatican send a delegate to decide on the issue. As the Church waited for the delegate, Archbishop Thazhath issued the circular insisting on the archdiocese following the synod-approved Mass.

“What is the need for the administrator to issue such a circular?” asked Riju Kanjookaran, the spokesperson of Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency, which led the protest in front of the closed cathedral in Kochi.

The group shouted slogans against Archbishop Thazhath, who is also the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the national body of Catholic bishops in the country.

[nickcarraway]

order of the Mass approved by the Church’s synod, which demanded priests turn to the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.

But in the rest of the world, the Church's synod wants the opposite?