A MESS OVER HOLY MASS

The venerable Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, the oldest in the land, has a revolt on its hands with a section of the clergy and laity up in arms over the enforcing of a uniform liturgical code.

- Jeemon Jacob

The issue is over the diktats set by the church on how the Holy Mass must be conducted—essentially which way the priest faces, the altar or the faithful, during the many parts of the ceremony. The issue has created such a hullabaloo that the Vatican, on July 26, asked Antony Kariyil, the archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, to step down for supporting the naysayers. Archbishop Andrews Thazhathu was appointed in his place on June 30.

Kariyil, a social scientist and former principal of Christ College, Bengaluru, had been promoted to archbishop in August 2019 and brought to Ernakulam when another controversy over shady land deals had rocked the church. But now the church is silent on his future.