Priests of the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly called off a three-day-old protest, including hunger strike by senior priest Fr. Joseph Parekkattil, on Saturday after assurances from the permanent synod of the Syro-Malabar Church that their demands will be considered favourably.
A statement signed jointly by Bishop Andrews Thazhath of Thrissur, synod member, and Fr. Kuriakose Mundadan, representing the protesting priests, said there were assurances and convergence on five key issues between the synod and the priests.
This included a promise by the synod that the investigation in the “forged documents” case would be concluded at the earliest without any step to victimise the priests or create “provocation”.
The case relates to police investigation into documents allegedly forged by the anti-Cardinal group to implicate him in financial deals with a private company. While the police maintain that the documents are forged, those opposed to the Cardinal claim that the police appeared incapable of conducting an impartial inquiry. They have called for an investigation by some other agency in the case.
Fr. Mundadan and his colleague Fr. Jose Vailikodath addressed the media to explain the settlement that led to the calling off of the protest at the Major Archbishop’s house.
Suspension
The bishops, who held talks with the protesting priests, also promised that the suspension of two auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese would be brought up before the synod of bishops, scheduled for August.
Fr. Mundadan said the priests respected the authority of the Pope to suspend bishops but felt that the auxiliaries were not given a chance to explain their position and this pained the laity and the community of priests.
The discussions, which started on Friday evening, lasted for more than five hours, he said. The bishops were receptive and positive about the demands raised by the priests, he added.
