KOCHI: Even after Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, urged the priests of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese to conduct the uniform Mass in the churches on Easter, vicars of a majority of the churches and parishes didn’t on Sunday.
According to representatives of Almaya Munnettam, a laity organisation of the archdiocese, of the total 340 churches under the archdiocese, only five witnessed the Mass in the new format. “The majority of the churches under the archdiocese retained the present form of the Mass. We stand with the circular issued on April 6 by Mar (Antony) Kariyil and the decision of the priests to implement the uniform Mass (only) from (coming) Christmas,” said a laity representative.
The cardinal had issued a letter addressed to the priests of the archdiocese on Saturday urging them to conduct the uniform Mass. Earlier on April 7, the cardinal had issued a circular to implement the uniform Mass in all churches and parishes under the archdiocese Easter onwards.
The cardinal in his latest letter pointed out that as per the exhortation of the Pope and with regard to the instructions of the dicastery for oriental churches, the mass should be conducted in the new format at all centres. He pointed out no other direction which was contradictory to the same would be legally valid.
Also, priests of the archdiocese had issued a statement claiming that they had filed an appeal seeking to cancel the circular issued on April 7, which was undersigned by both the cardinal and metropolitan vicar Mar Antony Kariyil. “By pressuring Mar Kariyil, who has the authority to decide on the administrative matters of the archdiocese, to sign the joint circular, the cardinal had violated the canons,” said a priest with Athirupatha Samrakshana Samithy, a priests’ association.