“Our Church has gone down to shocking levels with even non-Christians pitying us,” Thattil said in reference to the divisions within the Church there.
“You are most welcome to make suggestions and pray for me regularly to deal with the big challenge,” pleaded Thattil, the former auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Trichur who headed the SMC’s Shamshabad Diocese since 2018.
Divisions still present
However, subsequent developments in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly show that the new major archbishop has a daunting task before him.
Priests of the archdiocese around Kochi, where clergy and laypeople have been defying the SMC synod’s call for following the synodal Mass, met on Jan. 19 and decided not to read a letter from the bishops calling for unity.
On Jan. 21, Thattil and 49 bishops who participated in a Jan. 8–13 synod signed a pastoral letter that they asked to be read in all churches of the archdiocese on Jan. 21.
“We hope that you would bear witness to the unity of the Catholic Church disregarding the differences of opinion,” the bishops urged, writing under the name of Bishop Bosco Puthur, apostolic administrator of the archdiocese.
In response, the dissenting priests released a statement to the press to say that they would not allow the letter to be read in their dioceses.
“The decision of the synod enforcing uniform Mass was in violation of the norms laid down by the Syro-Malabar Church code of law, and even the pope has been misled on it. We cannot read this circular that continues to ignore our numerous appeals that have never [received] a proper response,” the Archdiocesan Protection Committee (APC) said in a statement, which was the result of a “unanimous decision” by the priests.
The statement also took umbrage with the letter’s suggestion that “the archdiocese is going out of the Catholic communion,” pointing out that “we are following the revised SMC Mass text only in the archdiocese and the only difference is in the way of saying Mass.”
As soon as the synod ended on Jan. 13 at the SMC headquarters at Mount St. Thomas, Thattil rushed to meet two dozen key priests with a reconciliatory address: “I am ready to listen to you. I know you have a lot of wounds. No decision can be imposed. Each view will be heard and discussed.”
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Members of the clergy and lay groups opposed to the uniform Mass told CNA that despite the archbishop’s words, there has been no effort to accommodate those who wish to celebrate the Mass as they have for decades.
“The pastoral letter that followed shows the duplicity. It has just repeated the old position. Without frank discussion, this issue cannot be resolved,” Father Jose Vailikodath, APC spokesperson, told CNA Jan. 20.
“To obey the pope, synodal Mass was said on Christmas Day for the first time in the archdiocese. But the issues we have repeatedly raised have not been addressed. So, how could we just follow an illegal decision taken without following the (SMC) procedure for liturgical changes?” Vailikodath asked.
The vocal group “Almaya Munnetam” (“Laity Forward”), immediately endorsed the decision of the clergy not to read the bishops’ pastoral letter in the parishes.
“It is not a question of supporting the bishops or the priests. The synodal Mass ignores the laity, who prefer the Mass facing the people,” Shaiju Antony, spokesperson for the lay network, told CNA.
Meanwhile, Thattil reiterated on Jan. 18 that “priests cannot offer holy Mass as per their will” while declaring St. Sebastian’s Church of Nedumkandam as the major archiepiscopal church of the Diocese of Idukki, the national English daily The Hindu reported.