Almaya Munnettam, the lay people’s group of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, has alleged that Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the archdiocesan administrator, was in the Vatican for 12 days after unsuccessfully trying to secure an appointment with Pope Francis.
The archbishop, Almaya Munnettam leaders claimed, was in the Vatican to inform the Pope in person about the stand taken by lay people and priests of the archdiocese on the way the Mass was celebrated.
The group is opposed to Archbishop Thazhath, who has taken the stand that a uniform Mass system should be imposed on the archdiocese as in other dioceses and archdioceses of the Syro-Malabar Church. The standoff followed a decision by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church in August last year that the Mass celebrant should face the congregation for the first half of the Mass and then face away from them for the second half of the ceremonies.
However, the group has said that the uniform Mass system, as dictated by the Synod, should not be implemented in the archdiocese, and that the priest should face the congregation for the entire duration of the Mass.
The group also alleged that the archdiocesan administrator was trying hide his shame for his failure to secure an appointment with the pontiff by releasing a video of his meeting with the Pope. However, the meeting was just for 35 seconds when the Pope had arrived to meet bishops and archbishops in a general audience, said Riju Kanjookkaran, spokesman of Almaya Munnettam, in a statement here.
The archbishop’s attempt was to “mislead the faithful” through the release of the video, he claimed. The archbishop was also trying to impose his own and the Synod’s decisions on the Mass issue on members of the archdiocese. Therefore, it had been surmised that there was no “justice” to be expected from the administrator, the lay group said.
