Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil of the Church based in Kerala state, in a March 2 circular, appealed for peace and harmony in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, his seat.
Thattil and his vicar Archbishop Joseph Pamplany also appealed to the warring priests and laity to offer at least one Mass that follows rubrics approved by the Church’s synod on important feast days and Sundays, as was agreed in a July 2024 peace pact.
The letter issued at the start of Lent expressed hope that these steps could start the "healing process" in the archdiocese that has witnessed several street protests and violence since August 2021.
Thattil also ordered the priests to read out the circular in all churches during Sunday Mass on March 2, when the Eastern rite Church starts Lent.
However, the rebel priests refused to comply, and lay members burnt copies of the circular in front of churches.
They also vowed to continue with their traditional Mass until a permanent solution to the more than five decades old liturgy row is found.
The priests refuse to accept the synod-approved Mass form that requires the celebrant to face the altar during Eucharistic prayer. Most of the 480 priests and laity in the archdiocese want the celebrant to face the congregation throughout Mass, as had been done for the past five decades.
Both parties began to stiffen their stance in August 2021 after the bishops’ synod ordered its 35 dioceses in India and abroad to adopt the synod-approved rubrics.
All dioceses, except the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, complied with the order, many after initial opposition.
The archdiocese, which is home to more than half a million Catholics, accounts for almost 10 percent of the total membership of the Syro-Malabar Church worldwide.
The warring priests and laity continue to defy the synod decrees and have resorted to hunger strikes and street protests, which at times also turned violent.
Father Jose Vailikodath, spokesperson of the Archdiocesan Protection Committee, a body of priests, said in a statement that “the priests and the faithful have dismissed the circular as it carried blatant lies.”
It will not be read out in churches “as it will only help create infighting among the faithful,” he said about the March 2 circular.
He said the priests would not accept the synod-approved rubrics of the Mass, nor any orders, including on their transfers, from the curia.
The priests say that the archdiocesan curia was established by appointing tainted and unqualified priests, violating the Church's norms.
The Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT), a body of priests, religious, and laity that are spearheading the protest, in a separate statement said that “any discussion" would be possible only after dismissing the present curia.
They accused the curia of unleashing the police on them on Jan. 9, when some 21 priests entered the archbishop’s house to press their demands. However, the police evicted them forcefully.
Nearly 12 priests sustained injuries, including fractures, in the police action, leading to public protests by priests, nuns, and laypeople in the archdiocese on Jan. 12.
The prelates, in their circular, urged the warring priests and the laity to avoid bringing shame to the Church in larger society.
The Church authorities have not yet officially reacted to the open defiance by the priests and laity in the archdiocese.