Unified Mass row: Truce seems near as rival faction agrees to church order, though with riders

Kochi: It seems the warring factions of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro Malabar Church are finally heading towards a truce over the long-pending dispute over the style of offering the holy Mass. In what signals their wish to bring an end to the row, a section of the priests in the archdiocese on Tuesday agreed to accept the terms in a statement issued by the Church, though conditionally. With this, the parish churches which had been opposed to conducting the synodal style of Mass have agreed to do so since they are also allowed to continue with the current form of Mass where the priests face the believers.

The way for the purported consensus was opened after Major Archbishop Mar Raphael Thattil and Apostolic Administrator Mar Bosco Puthur issued a note on Monday saying at least one mass in the synodal form should be implemented in parish churches on Sundays and holy days of obligation from St Thomas Day, which falls on July 3.

According to the note, the churches where the unified synodal form of mass is performed at least once on Sundays and special days will be allowed to continue with the current form of mass. A final decision on the matter will be taken only after the synod discusses it with canonical bodies including the college of consultors, Presbyteral Council, and Pastoral Council. Formation of canonical bodies and ordination of deacons in the archdiocese will be held as and when the other decisions are implemented.

The Archdiocese Protection Council, a body of priests who have opposed the synodal move to implement the unified form of Mass, on Tuesday said it was ready to accept the note since it allows offering people-facing Mass, maintaining peace in parishes.

“However, no priest will conduct the unified mass if it affects the peaceful atmosphere in a parish. If unified Mass leads to conflict within a parish, only Mass facing the people will be performed until the issue is resolved by the Curia,” the priests said in a statement.

The priests also said that if believers do not turn up for the unified mass, then the archdiocesan authorities will be informed about it and the existing form of Mass will continue at such parishes until a final decision is made.

The priests’ council demanded that the archdiocese compensate parishes for legal expenses incurred so far over the dispute. The priests said that if a priest from another archdiocese is restricted from offering people-facing Mass in the archdiocese, they will back out from the agreement.

They said they will withdraw from the understanding with the church leadership if canonical committees are not formed and the ordination of deacons is not done by September 2024. They said they would continue their fight until the Mass facing the people is declared as the official form of mass in the archdiocese.

Almaaya Munnetam, the laity body which has been challenging the move to impose unified mass in the church, met the church leadership at Mount St Thomas, Kakkanad, the church headquarters. They said the two factions have arrived at an understanding conditionally.