The division within the Syro-Malabar Church over the way the Mass is celebrated came to the fore once again Sunday morning when strident groups on both sides of the divide held protests and demonstrations at the city headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church Sunday morning.
The group in support of a uniform Mass celebration as order by the synod of bishops in August last year, held a meeting in support of Cardinal George Alencherry, major archbishop and the synod of the church in front of the Cardinal’s House before the Mass.
The group demanding a fully congregation-facing Mass as practiced in archdioceses like Ernakulam-Angamaly and Thrissur, among many other dioceses over the five decades, held a protest meeting before the St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica after the Sunday Mass.
The groups reiterated their stance and made it clear that they stood firm in their demands. The group in favour of a fully congregation-facing Mass, said this was their right as members of the Church. The opposition said the stand by the group would help divide the church on the issue of Mass celebration and extended their support to the synod of bishops even, pleading with metropolitan administrator Antony Kariyil to stand aside as he has been widely perceived as supporting the cause of the fully congregation facing Mass.
Anthony Purathur of Samyukta Sabha Samrakshana Samity, (united forum for protection of the church) said those who participated in the Sunday demonstration and meeting supply support the synod of bishops and wanted to see a strong united Syro-Malabar church. Groups of both priests and lay people have joined hands to demand the continuation of the fully congregation-facing Mass.
The division over the issue of Mass celebration has become sharper and more pronnounced after the synod of bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church decided in August last year that a uniform Mass celebration should be imposed.
While a group of dioceses were in favour of the decision, the others have said a vast majority of the Syro-Malabar church members, priests and religious are in favour of continuing with the fully congregation-facing Mass in which the priest or the celebrant faces the congregation for the entire duration of the Mass.
In the form prescribed by the synod, the celebrant faces the congregation during the first half of the Mass and then turns towards the Madbaha or the altar for the remaining portion of the rituals.
