Observers say the move aims to cripple financially the Apostolic Administrator of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, where most priests and laity oppose the implementation of the officially accepted liturgical rubrics.
“Our parish councils have passed resolutions urging parish priests not to give any financial aid to the Apostolic Administrator until he revokes the appointment of his new curia,” said Riju Kanjookaran, spokesperson of the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT), a body of priests, religious and laity.
Kanjookaran told UCA News on Oct. 24 that other income-generating institutions in the archdiocese also “will not share their profits" with the Apostolic Administrator.
The archdiocese, based in southern Kerala state, is the seat of power of the second-largest Eastern rite Church.
It is currently administered by Bishop Bosco Puthur, the Vatican-appointed apostolic administrator who attempts to implement the officially recognized liturgy in the archdiocese.
Puthur reconstituted his curia on Oct. 9 without consulting the archdiocesan priests after all its members resigned.
They resigned in protest of Puthur delaying the ordination of eight deacons over the liturgy dispute.
Besides, most priests and the laity have announced their non-cooperation with the new curia.
They have threatened to oppose the curia members’ entry into parishes or archdiocesan institutions.
“Our parishes will not provide any financial assistance to the archbishop until he revokes the appointment of his new curia,” said Father Kuriakose Mundadan, secretary of the archdiocesan presbytery council.
“Most of our parishes have passed resolutions,” the priest told UCA News on Oct. 24.
Among the 328 parishes in the archdiocese, a majority are self-reliant and pay a considerable sum as a yearly contribution to the archbishop.
The archdiocese is home to over 10 percent of the Syro-Malabar Church’s five million followers, spread throughout 35 dioceses in India and abroad.
The "economic boycott will not have any implication” as the archdiocese "gets a whopping amount of money" as rent from its buildings in prime locations in the city, said a Church official who did not want to be named.
The official said that the rent income comes directly to the archdiocesan bank accounts without any involvement of parishes.
"We are sure the matter will be settled as parishes cannot continue with this kind of protest,” the Church official told UCA News on Oct. 24.
On Oct. 17, Father Varghese Njaliath petitioned Puthur, invoking specific provisions of canon law showing that the new curia members were unfit for office because of their records and pending criminal cases.
The liturgy dispute stems from the persistent refusal of most priests and lay people in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese to follow a Synod-approved rubric for Mass that requires celebrants to face the altar during the Eucharist prayer. They want priests to celebrate the Mass facing the people.
The dispute was finally settled in July 2024, when the rebel priests agreed to celebrate a Synod-approved Mass on Sundays and other important feast days in the parishes.
The deal, however, was derailed after Puthur refused to ordain eight deacons on Oct. 1, demanding a written undertaking that the deacons would offer only the Synod-approved Mass.