Tribunal to rule on 4 priests accused of defying liturgy orders

The disciplinary proceedings come amid a push to impose a new version of the Syro-Malabar Church’s Eucharistic liturgy.

A special disciplinary tribunal will consider the cases of four priests accused of defying orders related to the introduction of a new “uniform” liturgy in India’s Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly.

A meeting in Kochi, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, in support of a priest facing disciplinary action. Courtesy photo.

The archeparchy announced Dec. 28 that disciplinary measures against Fr. Varghese Manavalan, Fr. Joshy Vezhaparambil, Fr. Thomas Valookaran, and Fr. Benny Palatti would be referred to the tribunal established 10 days earlier by Syro-Malabar leader Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil.

The disciplinary proceedings were initiated by the apostolic administrator Bishop Bosco Puthur amid a push to impose a new version of the Syro-Malabar Church’s Eucharistic liturgy on the archeparchy in the southern state of Kerala.

Puthur appointed administrators to oversee the parishes linked to the four priests — St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam, St. Mary’s Forane Church, Thripunithura, St. Martin de Porres Church, Palarivattom, and Our Lady of Velankanni Church, Matha Nagar — provoking protests by local lay people.

The Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy, which serves around 500,000 Catholics, is the most populous diocese in the Syro-Malabar Church, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope. The archeparchy is the seat of Major Archbishop Thattil, but Puthur oversees its day-to-day governance.

The Dec. 28 statement said that Puthur had relieved the four priests of their duties Dec. 22, in accordance with canon 1473 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the Eastern Catholic equivalent of the Code of Canon Law.

Canon 1473 says that bishops can prohibit accused priests “from the exercise of sacred orders, an office, ministry or another function,” and “impose or prohibit residence in some place or territory.”

The archeparchy said the priests had been ordered to leave the churches “where they are now staying illegally” and move to other locations, where they would be permitted to celebrate the Holy Qurbana — the Syro-Malabar Church’s Eucharistic liturgy — in a private chapel.

The archeparchy said the priests were no longer permitted to celebrate the liturgy elsewhere or hear confessions. It said the special tribunal would review the measures imposed on the four clerics, who are entitled to appeal according to canons 999 and 1000 of the Eastern code.

Major Archbishop Thattil issued a decree instituting the tribunal Dec. 18.

In a Dec. 19 statement, the archeparchy said the body was established “to address the ongoing disciplinary issues within the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, particularly concerning the Syro-Malabar Church’s liturgical practices.”

“The tribunal will handle disciplinary cases, including the refusal to comply with lawful orders and warnings, through appropriate canonical procedures,” the archeparchy said.

Relations between priests and ecclesiastical authorities in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy broke down in 2017, when the archeparchy was hit by the so-called “land scam” scandal.

The scandal, which centered on real estate transactions that lost the archeparchy a reputed $10 million, prompted priests to demand the removal of the then-Major Archbishop, Cardinal George Alencherry, who rejected allegations of wrongdoing.

In recent years, the archeparchy has become the focal point of resistance against efforts to introduce the new uniform liturgy throughout the Syro-Malabar Church.

The Synod of Bishops — the Eastern Church’s supreme authority — asked all dioceses to accept the introduction of the new Eucharistic liturgy in November 2021.

In the new uniform mode, the priest faces the people during the Liturgy of the Word, turns toward the altar (ad orientem) for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and then faces the people again after Communion.

In the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy, the vast majority of priests and lay people refuse to adopt the uniform liturgy, arguing that clergy should be allowed to continue celebrating the liturgy facing the people throughout (versus populum).

Catholics in the archeparchy have expressed their opposition to the new liturgy through boycotts, hunger strikes, and the burning of cardinals in effigy, as well as burning letters from Church officials and turning them into paper boats.

Syro-Malabar leaders declared last year that priests refusing to adopt the new liturgy by July 3 would be considered in schism and barred from ministry.

Just before the deadline passed, both sides agreed to a compromise in which parishes could continue celebrating the liturgy versus populum if they provided at least one uniform Eucharistic liturgy on Sundays and major feast days.

In October, the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy clarified that the dispensation for the archeparchy’s priests to continue celebrating the versus populum liturgy was a “temporary concession,” rather than a recognition of a right.

Bishop Puthur began to take action against the four priests in November. In a Nov. 25 decree, he appointed an administrator at St. Mary’s Forane Church, Thrippunithura, replacing Fr. Joshy Vezhaparambil with effect from Dec. 3.

He asked the administrator to adopt the “necessary precautions and security to start celebrating the Holy Qurbana in the uniform mode in the parish.”

But the administrator was reportedly blocked from entering the church.

In its Dec. 19 press release, the archeparchy said: “The uniform mode of celebration of the Holy Qurbana, introduced on Nov. 28, 2021, has faced resistance despite consistent efforts by the Holy Father, the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, the Major Archbishop, the Apostolic Administrator, and the Pontifical Delegate [Archbishop Cyril Vasil’, S.J.].”

“The ongoing indiscipline has caused discord among the faithful and unrest in the community, prompting the need for this special tribunal. While such tribunals are typically established at the eparchial level, the Apostolic Administrator informed higher ecclesiastical authorities that it was not feasible to operate a tribunal locally in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly under the current circumstances.”

“Consequently, at the request of Mar Bosco Puthur and with the approval of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches in Rome, the Major Archbishop established this special tribunal.”

It added: “This tribunal is given the authority, in the decree of establishment, to take canonical action against priests, religious, and laity within the Archeparchy who are found to be engaging in acts of indiscipline.”

The Archdiocesan Protection Committee, which represents Ernakulam-Angamaly priests opposed to the new liturgy, argued in a Dec. 28 statement that Bishop Puthur’s decision to appoint administrators to the four parishes was in contempt of court.

The committee noted that the priests had filed cases in a civil court challenging Puthur’s transfer orders. It said the court had called for the status quo to be maintained in the churches while the cases were under review.

The committee also accused Puthur of seeking to impose the new liturgy in the four parishes ahead of a Jan. 6 meeting of the Syro-Malabar Church’s Synod of Bishops.

“Not only do the believers in these churches ignore the signs of authoritarianism, they do not allow their vicars to leave their churches for any reason,” the committee said.