Syro-Malabar Church in India resolves decades-long liturgical dispute, ending protests and legal battles. New Mass rubric effective July 3, 2025.
Newsroom, June 20, 2025, Gaudium Press – A protracted liturgical conflict within the Syro-Malabar Church’s Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese in Kerala, India, has been resolved, ending a dispute that threatened schism, sparked violent protests, and led to multiple court cases.
The agreement, reached on June 19, 2025, during a meeting of church officials and over 300 priests, addresses the contentious issue of priestly orientation during Mass. Father Kuriakose Mundadan, presbytery council secretary of the archdiocese, announced, “We have resolved our differences over liturgy.” He added that Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and his vicar, Archbishop Joseph Pamplany, are expected to issue an official statement soon.
The resolution permits priests in the archdiocese to celebrate Mass facing the congregation but mandates at least one Mass facing the altar on Sundays and major feast days. The new rubric will take effect on July 3, 2025, coinciding with the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, credited with evangelizing India’s western coast in the first century.
The bishops, a Church official said, “have also agreed to the demand of the protesting priests, such as replacing the current archdiocesan curia, and withdrawing police complaints and court cases against priests, among other concessions.”
The dispute, rooted in post-Vatican II liturgical reforms, has simmered for over five decades. One faction advocated for modernizing the liturgy, while another sought to preserve the Church’s ancient traditions. In 1999, the Syro-Malabar Synod approved a compromise rubric, allowing priests to face the congregation except during the Eucharistic prayer, when they must face the altar. While most of the Church’s 35 dioceses adopted this, Ernakulam-Angamaly, representing 10% of the Church’s 5 million members, resisted, adhering to its tradition of priests facing the altar throughout Mass.
Tensions escalated in August 2021 when the Synod mandated uniform adoption of the approved liturgy by November that year. Defiance from Ernakulam-Angamaly’s priests and laity led to protests, including street clashes, a cathedral closure, a hunger strike, and a boycott of bishops. Legal battles followed, with the archdiocese threatening to form an independent Church.
In July 2023, the Vatican appointed Archbishop Cyril Vasil, a Slovak Jesuit, as Pontifical Delegate to oversee the archdiocese, but the deadlock persisted. The recent agreement includes concessions such as replacing the archdiocesan curia and withdrawing legal actions against priests.
“We accepted the formula as the bishops accommodated our demand,” said Riju Kanjookaran, spokesperson for the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency, a group of priests, religious, and laity leading the protest. He emphasized the cultural significance of their liturgy, stating, “It is in our blood.”
Opposition persists, with some supporters of the Synod’s liturgy protesting at Mount St. Thomas, the Church’s headquarters, and the Archbishop’s House in Ernakulam. Father Tom Oilkkarott, the Church’s new spokesperson, was unavailable for comment.
The resolution marks a significant step toward unity for the Syro-Malabar Church, averting a potential schism in one of India’s most prominent Catholic communities.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCAN News
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