Where things stand in the Syro-Malabar ‘liturgy war’

Shortly before Christmas, protestors inside a cathedral in southern India dragged the altar across the sanctuary, sending sacred vessels crashing to the ground.

The long-running “liturgy war” in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has been punctuated by street brawls, hunger strikes, the burning of pastoral letters, and the immolation of cardinals’ effigies.

But it took an even more shocking turn shortly before Christmas, when rival groups clashed inside a cathedral in southern India. In the melee, the altar was dr…