A meeting of a section of priests in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar church has imposed a ‘ban’ on apostolic administrator of the archdiocese archbishop Andrews Thazhath.
A statement issued by senior priest and spokesperson for priests, Father Jose Vailikodath, condemned the apostolic administrator for preventing priests, with the help of the police, from entering the archbishop’s house.
The statement said that Mar Thazhath was given an invitation to be the head of the families of the archdiocese through his position as the apostolic administrator. However, he barred the priests, who are part of the family of the archdiocese, from entering the archbishop’s house. The priests also slammed Mar Thazhath for allegedly performing his duties with police protection.
The priests, after a meeting, put up a bill listing his disqualifications for the position he held on the doors of the apostolic administrator. They also tied a ribbon across the doors in protest, the communication said.
The priests claimed that Mar Thazhath had threatened and forced archbishop Antony Kariyil to resign from his position as the archdiocesan administrator. However, over the last five months, Mar Thazhath had not showed the openness to hold talks with the priests or lay people of the archdiocese.
The priests also said that the way of functioning of the office of the apostolic administrator was disliked. They alleged that the archbishop was instrumental in getting the basilica cathedral taken over by the police. They slammed the way Father Antony Puthuvelil was recently appointed as the administrator of the cathedral basilica. This is a challenge to the archdiocese, the priests claimed and said that such measures would not help Mar Thazhath to impose a unified Mass system in the archdiocese.
The priests said that their ongoing protest ‘Quest for Justice’ or Neethi Yajnam will take a new turn after the Christmas day Mass.
