A section of Roman Catholic Christians in the Capital have opposed the Church’s move to shift them to the newly created Syro Malabar Eparchy of Faridabad. The Syro Malabar (SM) Church, headquartered in Ernakulam, Kerala, is one of the 22 Oriental Churches that maintain distinct rites of worship within the Catholic Church.
A distinct eparchy — a religious administrative jurisdiction — for the SM church in North India was created in 2012. It was officially “erected” in Faridabad so it would not be confused with the Latin rite Archdiocese of Delhi, which ministers to Catholics only in Delhi and parts of U.P. and Haryana.
Opposition to the new body came after a Joint Pastoral Letter signed by the Archbishops of Delhi and Faridabad in November 2013 transferred the membership of the 24,000-odd SM Catholics in Delhi to the new Faridabad eparchy from their respective parishes in the Latin rite Archdiocese.
Although, these families trace their roots to SM ancestors in Kerala, several of them have settled in Delhi for decades and are more familiar with Latin rites. Most of the children have lost touch with Malayalam and, unlike the Latin rite, which conducts services in several languages, SM services are only in Malayalam.
An official survey among Delhi’s Catholics in 2002 recorded that only 12 per cent of SM Catholics wanted a separate diocese and 75 per cent of them wanted freedom of choice in choosing the rite of worship.
The dissenters, who have also invested in the Latin rite Archdiocese by virtue of their contributions in building the community, banded together to form the “Syro Malabar Faithful of Delhi Archdiocese”—to oppose their transfer.
A pamphlet circulated among Catholics by this group says, “...it (the eparchy) could easily demand that the entire Archdiocese of Delhi be merged into the Eparchy of Faridabad – and everyone (not just those from Kerala) in Delhi will become part of the SM church – with its emphasis on Malayalam, its encouragement of dowry, its conservative culture (for instance, men and women sit on different sides in the church) and an overly political clergy!”
“Priests are confused and SM children, who are of age to join preparatory classes for sacraments of communion and confirmation, are being prevented. Few months ago, a man had to fly back from Kerala a night before his wedding to get a ‘status libre’ clearance from an SM parish priest in Delhi as the letter from his regular parish priest was not valid,” said Kurien Joseph, former editor of catholic newsletter Voice of Delhi .
The dissenters approached Latin Archbishop Anil Couto, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, and the Apostolic Nuncio -- the ambassador of the Vatican to India Salavatore Pennachio to have the decision overturned, but were not successful. Finally they petitioned the Pope in May this year to withdraw the edict.
A senior clergyman told this paper, “Archbishop Couto has declared a status quo until Vatican takes a final call on this. It is known that there are practical problems of multiple dioceses. The matter is serious and will be resolved by the Vatican.”
Sajo Padayattil, secretary to Faridabad Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, did not respond to queries from this paper.
