Christmas celebrations in Kochi

The dispute in the Syro-Malabar archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly over the style of mass celebration seeped into the Christmas-eve mass as a small group of people tried to disrupt the full congregation facing mass at the St. Thomas’ Church, Chittoor.

Thousands of Christians of various denominations joined their counterparts across the world to celebrate Christmas with midnight prayers and mass.

The dispute in the Syro-Malabar archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly over the style of mass celebration seeped into the Christmas-eve mass as a small group of people tried to disrupt the full congregation facing mass at the St. Thomas’ Church, Chittoor.

Those who tried to disrupt the mass were later removed by the police as the priest continued the mass celebration at the church.

The dispute also saw St. Mary’s Basilica, seat of the archdiocese, remaining closed for the second year in a row as the vicar and administrator of the basilica said in a circular that there was no peaceful and conducive atmosphere to celebrate mass at the basilica.

The group opposed to the uniform mass claimed that the Christmas-eve mass was celebrated in the traditional full congregation-facing style in 290 of the 328 churches in the archdiocese.

Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil led the solemn mass and prayers and ceremonies at the St. Francis Assisi cathedral, the seat of the Latin archdiocese of Varapuzha. Archbishop Sebastian Vaniapurakkal, apostolic administrator of the Syro-Malabar church offered mass at the St. Thomas Mount headquarters of the Syrian church in the early hours of Monday.

Mass and prayers marked celebrations at the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church headquarters in Puthenkurish.