The Vatican endorses uniform Mass celebration

The Congregation for Oriental Churches of the Roman Catholic Church has said Archbishop Antony Kariyil, metropolitan vicar, should "revoke the dispensation incorrectly extended to the entire archeparchy for an indefinite period" on the issue of celebration of Mass in the Syro-Malabar Church.

The communication said it was the duty of the Congregation for Oriental Churches "to communicate to all the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church that the common good requires that the members of the synod of bishops be the first to commit themselves to the faithful observance of the liturgical prescriptions established by the synod".

The order from the Vatican endorses a decision by the synod of bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church to follow a uniform method of celebrating the Mass even as the letter from the Congregation of Oriental Churches said the bishops should "clearly distance themselves from methods of protest and activism that are incompatible with the obligations of clerics".

The synod of bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church had decided in August last yeaar that a unified system of Mass celebration should be introduced. The unified system involves the Mass celebrant (priest) facing the congregation (people participating in the Mass celebration) for the first half of the Mass and then facing away from them for the second half. However, a group of the faithful including members of archdiocese like Ernakulam-Angamaly, have demanded they should be allowed to continue with the way they had been celebrating and participating in the Mass for about 50 years in which the celebrant faced the congregation for the entire duration of the Mass.

There have been public protests in support of and against the decision by the synod of bishops on the uniform Mass celebration. The community of lay people, religious and priests have been part of the protest. Those supporting the fully congregation facing Mass have cited an exemption granted by the Metropolitan Vicar of the archdiocese.

In the meanwhile, sources in the community committed to a fully congregation-facing Mass in the archdiocese, including the presybyteral council (council of priests) of the archcidiocese said there was no question of faith and morals involved in the Vatican order and that the priests' council, as scheduled earlier, would meet on Thursday to disucss various issues.