Around 400 priests joined and hundreds of lay people and religious participated in a concelebrated Mass at the Mar Augustine Kandathil Nagar (Bharata Mata College grounds, Kakkanad) on Sunday to mark the conclusion of the year-long centenary celebrations of the raising of the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy with Ernakulam as the headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church.
A public meeting, inaugurated by former Supreme Court judge Kurien Joseph followed the Mass during which the celebrants faced the congregation throughout. It was led by senior priest Jose Edassery. Former chancellor of the archdiocese Biju Perumayan delivered the homily. Senior priest Antony Narikulam presided over the public meeting, said a communication from Father Edassery and Father Mathew Kilukkan.
Prior to the meeting, several processions carrying torches and cross from important historical churches in the archdiocese reached the venue of the concelebrated Mass. The churches from where the processions reached Kakkanad included Kokkamangalam, Pallippuram, Chembu, St. Mary’s Basilica in Ernakulam, Kottakkavu, Angamaly, and Malayattoor.
The organisers said this was the first time in the history of the Church that such a large number of priests had participated in a full people-facing Mass.
The centenary celebrations come close on the heels of a warning from Pope Francis on Thursday that either the priests, religious, and faithful in the archdiocese of Ernakulam follow the synod order on Mass celebration or stand to excommunicate themselves from the Catholic fold. The synod has ordered a format in which the priest faced the congregation for the first and last parts of the Mass while turning to the altar during the consecration.
The Pope, in a video released to the faithful in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese said that he was pained that several efforts at reconciliation had failed. He reminded the priests to fulfill their vows at their ordination and the lay people to obey the hierarchy.
However, the group opposed to the syond Mass, as represented at the centenary celebrations on Sunday, maintained that the Pope may have been misled as there were factual errors reflected in his recent address. They also said that any way forward would involve honouring an agreement between the lobby for full congregation-facing Mass and the sub-committee of the synod of bishops earlier this year.
