KOCHI: In the wake of the papal delegate’s latest diktat in the issue over Uniform Holy Mass, the clergy of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Friday gathered at the Archbishop’s House and decided to set up an ad hoc committee to communicate with Archbishop Cyril Vasil. The 12-member ad hoc panel, which was selected at the meeting attended by around 300 priests, will now correspond with the papal delegate.
“Ever since the papal delegate arrived in Kerala, the clergy and laity have continuously demanded the publication of his appointment and mandate. However, the delegate has refused our demand,” the Archdiocesan Protection Committee said in a statement.
The circular of the special synod, that was convened to resolve the crisis, mentioned the papal delegate, the committee said. “It was announced that even if the papal delegate comes, the administration of the archdiocese will be under the apostolic administrator, Archbishop Andrews Thazhath. But the papal delegate is also exercising administrative authority in the archdiocese. The letter that warns the priests is an administrative act, and it is illegal to have two administrators at the same time,” the statement read.
“The papal delegate has instructed us to read the Easter 2022 exhortation of Pope Francis in our churches now. However, such a strict instruction was not issued to any priest at that point in time,” it said.
“A vast majority of priests in the archdiocese recall the names of the major archbishop and the apostolic administrator during mass. However, some centres have misled the papal delegate into saying that the practice is not followed here. The mass sanctioned by the synod is offered in all the churches of the archdiocese using the text approved in 2021,” said a press release issued by Fr Jose Vailikodath, public relations officer of the committee.
The priests and laity of the archdiocese object only to the practice of turning to the altar half the time. “The 2021 synod imposed the 50-50 formula of mass in violation of the written procedure incorporated by the previous synods. The synod’s decision is not in keeping with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s document ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’. This is against our conscience,” the statement said.