(ZENIT News / Ernakulam-Angamaly, 10.31.2024).- The long-standing liturgical conflict within India’s Syro-Malabar Church has reached a new flashpoint as the apostolic administrator, Bishop Bosco Puthur, warns of impending “canonical actions” against priests and laity resisting recent mandates on worship practices. In a circular dated October 30, Bishop Puthur asserted that the Church would no longer tolerate public dissent that tarnishes its leadership’s reputation, signaling a potential crackdown on clergy and lay groups engaged in the protest.
The directive has been met with defiance. Dissident priests and members of the laity have announced plans to publicly burn copies of Puthur’s circular on November 3, the day the letter was set to be read in Sunday Mass. Bishop Puthur, appointed by the Vatican in December 2023 to mediate and guide the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, specified that individuals who defame Church leaders on social media or other platforms may face ecclesiastical discipline.
At the heart of this conflict is the rubrical posture of the priest during Mass. After a brief reconciliation in July 2024, when clergy and laity agreed to celebrate a synodally approved format of Mass facing the altar during the Eucharistic prayer, dissent resumed over Puthur’s insistence on strict adherence to this mode. Dissenting priests and faithful prefer the traditional practice where the celebrant faces the congregation throughout the Mass.
Bishop Puthur’s recent insistence that eight deacons awaiting ordination commit in writing to following the official Mass form has further strained relations. These deacons are set to be ordained on November 4, and Puthur has stressed they will only celebrate Mass in the synod-approved format, a stance he reiterated in his circular. This requirement has fueled fresh protests and raised tensions, with many faithful seeing the directive as restrictive and stifling to the local liturgical heritage.
In response, the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT)—a coalition of priests, religious, and laity that has championed the protest for over three years—has continued to organize resistance, even vowing to burn copies of the circular. The AMT has been vocal in its stance, holding demonstrations, hunger strikes, and leading calls for greater transparency within the archdiocese.
The Syro-Malabar Church, one of the largest Eastern Rite churches in the world with an estimated five million members across 35 dioceses, is seeing only the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly resist the synodal Mass directive, while other dioceses have adopted it since November 2021. Ernakulam-Angamaly, home to about 500,000 Catholics, has thus become an epicenter of dissent.
The dispute has resulted in multiple flashpoints, including clashes, police cases, and the closure of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ernakulam. Bishop Puthur, currently under police protection at the Archbishop’s House in Ernakulam, has also banned non-sanctioned associations from gathering within Church institutions, aiming to curtail organized opposition. Nonetheless, the growing divide signals deeper challenges in reconciling tradition with modern mandates, as the faithful continue to grapple with issues of liturgical identity and ecclesial authority.
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