Bishop Bosco Puthur of Ernakulam-Angamaly in southern Kerala state has “restrained parish priests of four parishes, including St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, from carrying on with their priestly ministries in their parishes,” according to an Archdiocesan press statement on Dec. 18.
The archdiocese is the seat of Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church, which is the second-largest Eastern Rite Church in India.
The priests have been ordered to move out from their parishes immediately.
Puther has allotted new residences for the priests within the archdiocese and directed them to hand over the charge of their parishes to new administrators.
The administrators, appointed by the apostolic administrator, were not allowed to enter the four parishes by the parishioners when they went to take charge on Dec. 3.
The canonical action against the four priests is considered a fallout of their refusal to allow the new administrators to take charge of the parishes.
However, according to the archdiocese, the action follows their failure to implement the “uniform mode of celebration of Holy Qurbana [Mass].”
When the newly appointed administrators arrived with police to take charge, parishioners shouted slogans against Puthur, accusing him of creating fresh unrest during the Advent season by appointing new parish administrators.
The simmering dispute stems from the liturgical rubrics. Most priests and Catholics in the archdiocese refuse to accept the Church's newly introduced official Mass that asks the celebrant to face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.
They want to continue celebrating Mass with the celebrant facing the congregation throughout the Mass as was done in the past five decades.
Among the 480 priests in the archdiocese, only 12 priests are in favor of the uniform mode of Mass.
The four priests did not make any statement about their removal.
However, the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT), a body of priests, religious, and laity, said the priests would not leave their parishes.
“Neither will they move out from their parishes nor will we allow the new administrators to take charge,” Riju Kanjookaran, spokesperson of AMT told UCA News on Dec. 19.
The priests have already challenged their illegal transfer in the civil court and filed a recourse application before Puthur as per canon law, he said.
“The court hearings about their transfers were in the final stages, and Puthur had agreed in court that no further action would be taken against them. But in total breach, he ordered the priests to move out from their parishes,” Kanjookaran said.
He added that the priests have already filed a contempt of court plea against Puthur.
Kanjookaran further alleged that Puthur had “threatened them [priests] with punitive action if they dared to approach the court challenging his illegal and arbitrary action.”
Father Antony Vadakkekara, the spokesperson of Syro-Malabar Church, said the transfer orders do not amount to contempt of court.
“It is a natural course of action. The priests were given transfer orders a month back, and new administrators were appointed. When the new administrators went to take charge, they were not allowed,” he said.
He said the apostolic administrator was "acting on behalf of Pope Francis and in effect, the appointments and transfers are from the Pope himself.”
He also clarified that the four priests were not restrained from exercising their priestly ministries outside the parishes they had been removed.
Even after this, if they continue to disobey, they will face canonical actions, Vadakkekara said but did not elaborate further.
Though the liturgy dispute is over five decades old, it was revived in August 2021 when the Synod of Bishops, the top decision-making body of the Syro-Malabar Church, ordered all its 35 dioceses in India and abroad to adopt the uniform mode of Mass for greater unity.
Barring the Ernakulum-Angamaly archdiocese, others complied with the order effective November of that year.
In July this year, both sides patched up after the rebel priests agreed to offer one uniform-mode Mass on Sundays and feast days.
However, the agreement was breached in October after Puthur demanded and obtained a written undertaking from eight deacons that they would only celebrate the official Mass as a precondition for their priestly ordination.
The deans were ordained but not allowed to celebrate Mass in their parishes yet.
The simmering dispute has seen group clashes, court cases, police interventions, the burning of effigies, and the closure of its headquarters, St. Mary’s Basilica, in Ernakulam.
The troubled archdiocese is home to more than half a million followers of the Eastern Rite Church, who make up around 10 percent of the population of Syro-Malabar Catholics across the world.