The simmering liturgical feud over the implementation of the synodal Mass that came close to the issuing of excommunications in the Ernakulam Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church (SMC) in India has subsided with a “compromise” on July 3, the feast of St. Thomas, patron of the SMC.

“The Holy Qurbana [Mass] should not be the reason for division in the Church,” Father Antony Vadakkekara, SMC spokesperson, told CNA on July 16.

“That is why the [SMC] synod made the compromise proposal to say at least one synodal Mass in each of the parishes.” 

Trouble started brewing in the archdiocese after the SMC synod in August 2021 mandated the synodal Mass, also known as the “uniform Mass” in which the priest turns toward the altar with his back to the congregation after the offertory prayer. The priests of the Ernakulam Archdiocese rejected this and continued to say Mass facing the people throughout the liturgy.

Synodal and papal exhortations led to protests from the clergy and laypeople, culminating in Pope Francis issuing a deadline for the synodal Mass to be implemented beginning on Dec. 7, 2023, in a video message to the archdiocese.

Heeding this papal advice, the synodal Mass was put in place on Christmas 2023, but the overwhelming majority of the 450 priests of the archdiocese objected to it. A pastoral letter was then issued by the archbishop on June 14 with threats of excommunication and a July deadline.

“Priests who do not obey our decision from July 3 will be treated as those who have left the Catholic Church fraternity. Such priests will be barred from offering holy Mass in the Catholic Church from July 3,” cautioned Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, who heads the SMC Synod, in the pastoral letter.

The letter evoked strong protests on June 16, a Sunday. Besides being “unread” in most of the 330 parishes in the archdiocese, several parishes witnessed unprecedented protests such as the burning of the pastoral letter, dumping it into wastebaskets, and throwing it into bodies of water around the churches.

With tension mounting ahead of the July 3 deadline, Thattil and the apostolic administrator of Ernakulam, Bishop Bosco Puthur, rushed to hold meetings with priestly bodies and arrived at a plan made public July 1.

By Anto Akkara