By our special religious correspondent
Kochi, June 29 (IVC) The melee in the EA Archdiocese over liturgy could have avoided if the hierarchies of the Syro-Malabar (SMC) Church had shown patience and maturity , senior bishops who pleaded anonymity told this correspondent.
It was the tenacity and persistence of the hierarchies of the SMC that led to the closure of Saint Mary’s Basilica Cathedral, the principal church of the EA archdiocese, in the heart of the city, they said.
Basilica was closed for about two years since December 23, 2022, on the eve of the Christmas, after exchanging obscene words liberally between the supporters of the Uniform mass and its opponents laymen in front of the Holy of Holies (Thronos) to be or not to be uniform mass. The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church consisted of over five lakh faithful and about 400 parish churches and its tributary organizations which accounted for 10 per cent of the total faithful of the SMC, under the jurisdiction of the SMC.
The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese had played a very important role in the history and development of the Universal Catholic church under the pope as even before the advent of Saint Thomas, the apostle of India, in 52 AD. The legend has it that among the three Biblical WI semen (Megusans) who presented myrrh frankincense and gold to the Infant Jesus at Bethlehem , one WI seman was from Kerala’s Piravom, 35 kms East of Kochi.
The Wise men were the old Melchior from Persia, the middle-aged Kasper from India and the young Balthazar from Arabia, according to the noted church historian and metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East, Dr Mar Aprem. Balthazar presented myrrh ,Kasper frankincense and Melchior gold, according to William Barclay’s Bible commentary.
The present phase of the controversy had its beginning in August 2021 when the Synod of the Bishops of the SMC decided to issue a diktat to introduce 50:50 formula in celebrating the Holy Mass. “That the celebrant (priest) faced the congregation (the assembly of faithful participating the mass) during the first part of the ceremonies up to the Credo. During consecration and the sacramental part, the priest faced the altar and in last lap of the mass , after the communion the priest again faced the congregation. It is briefly called 50:50 formula.
The Major Archbishop and head of the Syro-Malabar Church, Mar Raphael Thattil and the EA Archdiocese’s Apostolic Administrator, Mar Bosco Puthur jointly issued a circular on June 09 to the priests of the EA archdiocese mandating that the Uniform mass should be introduced on or before July 03, the Martyrdom Day of Saint Thomas.
The joint circular stressed that if any priests failed to say the Uniform, he would be defrocked and excommunicated. The joint circular was meant to read during the Sunday mass on June 16. The priests not only read the circular during the Sunday mass, but it was burnt, thrown into backwaters dumped in the dust bin of the Kochi Corporation, defying the authorities totally whatever may come. Out of a total of 328 priests to be read the circular, below nine priests read it as directed by their superiors.
Five bishops- Ephrem Nariculam (Chanda), Jose Chittoorparambil(Rajkot) Jose Puthenveettil,Auxiliary Bishop (Faridabad), Kuriakose Bharanikulangara (Faridabad) and Sebastin Adayanthranth (Mandya) of the Syro-Malabar Charch’ Bishops Synod , had strongly protested against the issue the joint circular before discussing the matter in the Synod as a Synod on online was scheduled to hold on June 14. These bishops hailed from the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, have joined the chorus against a threat to excommunication of he priests of EA archdiocese who do not heed on Synod diktat on Unified mass from July 03.
A dissent note sent to the Major Archbishop, Mar Raphael Thattil by the bishops stated that the recent circular issued by Raphael Thattil and Apostolic Administrator, Bosco Puthur smacked of “the Middle Ages culture of the Church. Excommunication is a term unheard of after the second Vatican Council (l962-1965). The oriental code of canon law does not envisage automatic excommunication”.
Earlier also the church hierarchies of the SMC had sent directive to the priests of the EA archdiocese to effect the 50:50mass in all its parishes if any failed to do so, they would be excommunicated ad defrocked. Though the priest did not say the Uniform mass , the appropriate authorities could not excommunicate the defaulted priests., as it was impracticable to excommunicate all the priests of the EA archdiocese.
The inability of the Church hierarchies to take action as per the joint circular of June 9, It was described by the Almaya Munnettam spokesman as a fee-fau-fum (boggart).
The dissent not of the bishops stated that they held the Uniform mass in adherence with the decision of the Synod in August 2021 and the Holy Father’s (Poe’s) wishes close to their hearts and respective jurisdiction, “we follow the uniform mode of celebration”. The circular plunged the archdiocese into turmoil, the bishops said, as they reminded Raphael Thattil and Bosco Puthhur that the Holy Father (Pope) insisted on obedience but stressed dialogue. The priests in the archdiocese follow the approved Mass text and the question revolved around rubrics.
The priests failure to say the unified mass is not a mortal sin to accord maximum punishment, the spokesman for the Almaya Munnettam said.
The bishops pointed out in their letter that the Pope wanted the problem to be solved by the Church itself but the joint circular was issued without consulting or seeking opinion of the scheduled online synod. The bishops also said that there was no justification in handing out the maximum as ecclesiastical sanctions should be proportionate to the violation. “Where is the place for the benevolence we preach”, the bishops asked.
In the light of defying the joint circular of June 09, another circular was by the church hierarchies incorporating the decision of the synod of June 19 “ The priests in ERnakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese are allowed to continue with their traditional Mass. However, they will also have to celebrate one Synod-approved uniform Mass on all Sundays in their parishes” said some prelates who attended the synod of June 19.
The hierarchies of the Church failed to take any action against the defaulted priests and the appropriate authorities of the Church stood like an unimportant character of a Shakespearean tragedy. But to put it briefly, the images of the Major Archbishop and Bosco Puthur as troble-shooters have been sullied to a great extent.
