KOCHI: The pro-Uniform Holy Mass parishioners on Wednesday filed a contempt petition before the High Court over Monday’s public mass held at the Ernakulam St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica.
The Holy Mass was celebrated after a long hiatus of 1,000 days. The move by the administrator of the basilica, Fr Thomas Mangattu, and the anti-Uniform Holy Mass faction took the parishioners by surprise. Adv Joy Vettickal, trustee of the Basilica, said none of the parishioners vouching for the implementation of the Uniform Holy Mass had been notified of the decision to celebrate the Holy Mass at the Basilica.
“We have moved a contempt petition. How can the church be opened and Holy Mass celebrated when the court has, through an order, forbidden it?” he asked.
Meanwhile, the parishioners said that the Holy Masses were celebrated very early in the morning and late in the evening. “It seems that the church hierarchy got pulled up by Rome for not celebrating Holy Mass at the basilica, which is the headquarters church of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archeparchy,” a parishioner said.
The road that paved the way for the celebration of Holy Mass at the basilica started off with a letter sent by Mar Pamplany to the administrator of the church on October 25, 2025.
In the letter, Mar Pamplany directed Fr Mangattu to ensure that Holy Mass is celebrated at the basilica from the start of the period of Advent (A season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas), that is, from November 30. He directed that Holy Mass be celebrated in adherence to the reconciliation formula.