No Christmas Mass, celebrations at St. Mary’s cathedral
The Hindu
The principal church of the Ernakulam Angamaly archdiocese of the Syrian Catholic church wore a deserted look on Christmas day
In a rare instance in its history, the St. Mary’s cathedral basilica wore a deserted look on Christmas eve and on the Christmas morning as there was no celebration of the Mass including the midnight Mass.
The principal church of the Ernakulam Angamaly archdiocese of the Syrian Catholic church wore a deserted look on the day when solemn Masses are at the centre of the celebrations of the birth of Jesus.
No Mass was celebrated after two groups in the archdiocese called for a truce over their quarrel on the way the Mass is celebrated.
They have decided that there will be no Mass at the basilica until a consensus is reached and permanent peace is brought about There were fisticuffs on Friday and Saturday which ended in 11 priests, in support of a fully people facing Mass, hospitalised with injuries.
The civil administration called a meeting of the two factions, one supporting the synodal Mass in which the priest faced away from the people in the second half of the Mass, on Saturday to reach a consensus. The basilica is not closed but there is a consensus that Mass will be celebrated only after a peaceful settlement is reached.
The major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry celebrated the Christmas Mass at the St. Thomas mount, which is the official headquarters of the Syro-Malabar church while the priests said their Masses at their respective parishes or institutions.
Those supporting the fully people facing Mass against the synodal diktat said the altar of the basilica should be reconsecrated for the Mass to be celebrated there again. They said there was a sacrilege when the Synod supporters disrupted Mass on Friday and Saturday and upturned the altar. They also spilled consecrated wine and host, said senior priest and secretary of the priest’s council in the archdiocese in a letter to the Pope seeking Rome’s intervention.