Pope-led “separate church” sought by Kerala’s dissenting clergy: Unified Mass

Approximately 300 priests gathered in the presbyterium (council of priests) called by Mar Bosco Puthur, the apostolic administrator of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, unanimously urged that Holy Mass performed facing the people be acknowledged as a liturgical alternative. They demanded that the archdiocese be recognized as a distinct church directly under the Pope, and that it be separated from the Syro-Malabar Church synod in the event that such a resolution could not be reached.

Mar Puthur was pushed by the priests to correct the false affidavit he had submitted to the munsiff court. The Athiroopatha Samrakshana Samithi’s public relations officer, Fr. Jose Vailikodath, said that the affidavit was written in a way that would prompt the court to issue an order mandating the sealing up of all churches in the archdiocese.

After receiving letters on the subject of Unified Holy Mass from Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, head of the dicastery for the eastern churches, the apostolic administrator called the emergency conference at Niveditha, near Chunangamveli. The stated purpose of the conference was to draft an action plan for the archdiocese’s adoption of the Unified Holy Mass.

“However, following the reading of the major archbishop’s letter, which threatened to take disciplinary action against priests who refuse to celebrate Unified Mass, a group of priests decided that it would be better to set up a religious court to try the 450 priests immediately and begin punitive measures rather than engaging in negotiations,” Father Vailikodath said.

Fr. Vailikodath remarked that Mar Puthur’s statement that a phased implementation of Unified Holy Mass would never be feasible meant that the impasse would continue.

The priests even made an attempt to remind him that he must notify Rome of this situation in his capacity as apostolic administrator. Few people in the archdiocese are interested in implementing Unified Holy Mass in many of the parishes. Vicars of parishes are having problems because the Unified Holy Mass lobby, which operates out of Mount St. Thomas, is effectively utilizing them. The priests also made it plain that the money owed to the archdiocese would be reduced by the legal fees churches expended to pursue their claims, according to Fr. Vailikodath.

The priests also denounced recommendations that were printed in the Syro-Malabar Synod News. These recommendations included renaming the church, demoting Ernakulam St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica as the main church, and removing the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese from its status as an archeparchy.

The false report that former apostolic administrator Mar Andrews Thazhath had forwarded to the Vatican was the subject of a letter sent by the ad hoc committee of priests to the Pope.

The Pope had written to Fr. Jose Edassery, the committee leader, expressing his desire for an honest and transparent discussion on the liturgy.