A Church official has cautioned Catholics in the largest archdiocese of India’s Syro-Malabar Church against breaking away and seeking to form a separate diocese. Source: UCA News.
Apostolic Administrator Bishop Bosco Puthur of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese urged parishes adopting resolutions to break away not to be carried away by a “wrong campaign”.
In a circular on Friday, Bishop Puthur said seeking a separate status is a move by those who want to obstruct the “implementation of the uniform mode of Mass”, which has been approved by the Synod of Bishops, the Church’s top decision-making body, and Pope Francis.
The decades-long liturgy dispute over the rubrics during the Mass in the archdiocese was settled on July 1 after the priests agreed to offer the Synod-approved Mass in which the celebrant faces the altar during the Eucharistic prayers on Sundays and other feast days.
The settlement also allowed them to continue with their traditional Mass, during which the priest faces the congregation throughout.
The deal, however, was derailed after Bishop Puthur refused to ordain eight deacons on October 1, demanding a written undertaking that the deacons would offer only the Synod-approved Mass.
In the circular, Bishop Puthur recalled a video by Pope Francis released on December 7, 2023, asking the faithful and the archdiocesan priests to accept the Synod-approved Mass.
“How can the Catholic Church erect a separate diocese under the Pope for those who continue to defy his orders?” Bishop Puthur noted in the circular.
The Synod of Bishops approved the rubrics in August 2021 and ordered all 35 dioceses in India and abroad to implement them from November of that year.
“The fact is that the Synod included the rubrics arbitrarily,” in the liturgy text approved by the Pope, claimed Riju Kanjookaran, spokesperson of the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency, which has been spearheading a three-year-old protest against the Synod-approved Mass.
We are against “illegally incorporating the rubrics into the original liturgy text approved by the Pope,” Mr Kanjookaran said.
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Catholics urged not to split India’s Syro-Malabar Church (UCA News)
