Synod Mass supporters wield the ‘whip’ to protest

Catholic Nazrani Association protests for unified synod Mass, demands apostolic administrator for Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.

Catholic Nazrani Association, a lay group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese in support of the unified synod Mass, staged the symbolic whipping of ‘thieves and gamblers’ by Jesus Christ in the Jerusalem temple, to highlight its demand to freeze the synod and appoint an apostolic administrator for the archdiocese.

The protest was organised in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral, the primary church of the archdiocese.

The protesting group said a synod of bishops, scheduled for August, should not be conducted until the Mass liturgy dispute was settled once and for all.

The call for action comes against, what the group called, some bishops, priests, and anti-Church forces aligning to defy the Pope and against the local synod. The recent conciliatory formula reached between rebel priests and the official Church hierarchy is an example of the defiance of the Pope, and a true believer cannot accept the peace formula, it said.

The association also called on the Vatican to take a serious view of papal authority being mocked in public and challenged the Church leadership to declare as licit and approved the Mass liturgy that was earlier declared illicit by the official hierarchy.

The decision to allow what was once considered “illicit” is a step to transfer the power to decide on liturgy to lay persons instead of the synod of bishops. This will help the downfall of the Syro-Malabar Church, said Shaiby Pappachan of the association, on Saturday.