The language of liturgy and Masses has always been controversial in the archdiocese from the past 40 years. The Bangalore Archdiocese that today comprises Bengaluru city, Bengaluru urban, Kolar, Tumakuru, Ramanagaram and Chickballapur, was earlier under the Pondicherry dioscese. Members of the community in the city even today speak Tamil and Malayalam. The language of the masses and liturgy had gained parochial colours as Kannada was pitched against Tamil, a senior member of the community said.
The issue reached the Pope and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Vatican, had appointed a three Bishop Commission on March 7, 2012.
The committee met several times in the city and submitted its report to the Vatican, based on which the three-language policy has now been formed. While English Masses have been allowed, “Each parish Pastoral Council has to now study and make a profile of the parish community based on which the archbishop will decide the schedule of the masses and the language to be used in every parish,” the directive said.
Mixed reaction
Meanwhile, the decision of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Vatican, has got mixed reaction.
The Akhila Karnataka Catholic Christara Kannada Sangha has objected to the recent directives, demanding that the Masses in the State have to be held only in the regional language. Writer M. Chidanandamurthy, was among the first to raise the issue.
However, welcoming the decision, social activist T.J. Abraham said that the new directives were fair and alleged that language issue was being used as a fig leaf for power games within the archdiocese.
