Dispute in the Syro-Malabar Church takes a new turn

KOCHI

The row in the Syro-Malabar Church over the way Mass is celebrated has taken a new turn with the Vatican authorities asking Archbishop Antony Kariyil to step down as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.

The community of priests in the archdiocese held a protest meeting against the Vatican’s decision to ask Archbishop Kariyil to step down.

Around 200 priests participated in the meeting here on Monday. A senior priest of the archdiocese, who participated in the protest meeting said that the decision to ask Archbishop Kariyil was not right, an opinion, he said, shared by the majority of the priests and the laity.

Riju Kanjookkaran of the Almaya Munnettam, an organisation representing the lay people, said the decision against the archbishop was not right and not acceptable.

The row is centred around a decision by the Synod of bishops of the Syro Malabar Church in August last year to follow a uniform way of celebrating the Mass. The uniform way involves the celebrant (priest) facing the congregation participating in the Mass in the first half of the Mass and then completing the Mass in the second half facing the altar.

Church sources said archbishop Kariyil has been perceived as supporting the view of the majority of the priests and faithful, especially in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, for conducting the Mass with the priest facing the congregation throughout the ceremony.