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KOCHI (UCAN): The Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church in India, cautioned its faithful against falling prey to a misleading media campaign on the implementation of a uniform Eucharistic celebration in all its 35 dioceses.
“This kind of propaganda is a deliberate move by some to dissuade the clergy and faithful from implementing the uniform mode of celebration of the Holy Qurbana [Eastern rite Eucharistic celebration],” Father Alex Onampally, secretary of the Syro-Malabar Church’s media commission, said in a press statement on September 8.
A group—including priests—opposed to a bishops’ synod decision announced in August, launched a campaign claiming that the move aims to return the church to the pre-Portuguese era.
Video messages circulating on social media allege that with the introduction of a uniform mode of Eucharist, the Church will abandon practices such as the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Way of the Cross, the rosary, novenas and veneration of images, and even alter Holy Week ceremonies to reflect its ancient traditions.
Father Onampally said a misconception was being spread that ancient practices such as a veil on the sanctuary and the St. Thomas Cross would be brought back. However, the synod’s decision was only about Eucharistic celebration and every diocese was free to follow its faith expresssions.
“The current practice in each eparchy, as decided by the bishop of the eparchy, will continue,” the press statement said.
‘This kind of propaganda is a deliberate move by some to dissuade the clergy and faithful from implementing the uniform mode of celebration of the Holy Qurbana’
Father Alex Onampally
The Syro-Malabar synod, its supreme decision-making body, approved a uniform Eucharistic celebration to end decades-old factionalism that has resulted in traditionalists introducing a veil to cover the sanctuary of churches following the Eastern tradition. Priests celebrated Mass facing the altar while some even removed the crucifix and replaced it with a simple cross without an image of Jesus.
Some traditionalists also erroneously maintain that several practices such as kneeling, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Way of the Cross, the rosary, novenas and veneration of images are not part of the Eastern tradition, claiming they were introduced by Latin-rite Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century.
In its effort to end the factionalism, the synod decided in 1999 that all priests would face the congregation from the start of the Mass until the Eucharistic prayer when they would face the altar and then again turn toward the congregation for the concluding part.
The modernists continue to oppose the move, saying priests turning against the congregation goes against the theology and teachings of the Church. They appealed against it to the Vatican, calling it an attempt to push back the people to age-old customs.
Some 20 years later, in July 2021, Pope Francis wrote to the synod asking it to implement the uniform Eucharistic celebration. The synod unanimously accepted the pope’s call and issued a pastoral letter in August asking all dioceses to implement the decision from November.
The letter was scheduled to be read out in parishes on September 5 but most priests in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the seat of the church’s major archbishop, George Cardinal Alencherry, refused and asked the bishop to seek a papal dispensation from the synod’s decision.
Some priests in the Archdiocese of Trichur and the Diocese of Irinjalakuda also reportedly opposed the synod’s decision and wanted to continue celebrating Mass facing the people. They have vowed to take up the issue with the Vatican, saying they want to continue the practices of more than six decades that are spelled out Church law.
