A new rite: a model of Syro Malankara Church is a way out from Syro Malabar crisis.

By Wimal Mary Das

The recent letter of Cardinal Sandri ( Feb 28/2022),the prefect of the Oriental Congregation, has intensified the wound and division that Oriental Congregation inflicted upon the Syro Malabar Church in the last decade. More than 2000 clergymen and 2.5 million Catholics are seriously pondering to get out from Syro Malabar Church and it's power game by Cardinal Alencherry. People have begun to ponder an impending division in the Syro Malabar Church. Alternatively, people are thinking about quitting the Church as well. The Vatican must consider erecting another rite for the larger chunk of Syro Malabar Catholics who uphold the Holy Mass facing people very close to their hearts.

Are we missing the point: Unity and unifying factor of India

Uniformity never brings unity, but the unifying factor of the Indian population, indeed, is diversity. The attitude of the Syro Malabar Synod is never positive but disruptive. The uniformity being imposed by hook and crook will not bring peace and harmony to the community. It deepens wounds and creates irreparable damages in the Church. People have begun to ponder an impending division in the Syro Malabar Church. Alternatively, people are thinking about quitting the Church as well.

Instead of bickering and infighting in the Syro Malabar Church, the faithful began to ask for a new rite or dicastery that can look after the needs of the faithful, just like the Syro Malankara Church. This kind of new setup can facilitate the peaceful faith experience in the Church.

“It is our right, and we know we have been celebrating the Holy Mass facing the people for more than 52 years, and what we need is it must be legally accepted and celebrated. Who is against it? The Synod of Syro Malabar Church, NOT Pope Francis. We are discouraged and are destroying our trust and faith in the current leadership. To a certain extent, we deny our faith. There is nobody to listen to the continuous plea we make from our hearts. It is worse than petty politics played in the secular world. I wonder why Pope Francis is not interfering and removing the cardinal at the earliest? It is not disrespecting that position as Major Archbishop, but he is corrupt and not worthy of being in the office,” Mr. Tom Varghese from Chicago reacted.

Malankara Church has only 4 lakh faithful but they have 14 bishops and one cardinal, whereas archdiocese of Ernakulam has more than a half million ( 5 lakh) faithful and the second largest diocese in India, but it has one bishop. This systemic problem must be fixed for the sake of justice and truth.

A new rite: a model of Syro Malankara Church is a way out from this crisis.

We can look back to the history of the Syro Malankara Church. A faction of the Orthodox community joined with Catholic Church in 1930, but they have continued the legacy of the Orthodox faith. It would be nice to adapt the rationale behind the reunification of the Syro Malankara Church. The Syro Malabar faction obsessed with the Orthodox ideology of worship may be allowed to part away from the Syro Malabar Church and make them a separate rite headquartered at Changanassery, and that would be a long-lasting solution to the problem they have created.

Orientalism and its obsession for the Old Chaldean heritage (not the current Chaldean Church as they celebrate Holy Mass facing people) have destroyed the peace and unity of the Syro Malabar Church, especially under the leadership of Major Archbishop George Allenchery. The epicenter of this division and spreading hate between ecclesiological siblings will be rectified amicably with the erection of a new rite for their use. If they are not happy to be of this rationale, the Vatican must consider erecting another rite for the larger chunk of Syro Malabar Catholics who uphold the Holy Mass facing people very close to their hearts.

Willingness to act, the problems can be solved immediately

Pope Francis and the Oriental Congregation, it is a plea to your esteemed office that you may have the willingness to act and create another rite for Major Archbishop Cardinal Allencherry where he can have a long-cherished title of Patriarch in the Kingdom of Changanassery and if anyone wants to be of that style of Oriental faith, they could choose to be part of it.

The idiosyncrasy and predilection of the Major Archbishop’s actions and habits warrant his astute aspiration to become a Patriarch and have an Orthodox-like Church in India. Instead of taxing for someone’s aberrations and harassing a larger number of Syro Malabar Catholics, it will be more than a charity from both sides that a solution to an imminent problem can be hammered out amicably. Only the Vatican authorities can fix the enigmatic problem that everyone from India and abroad from the large array of Syro Malabar faithful patiently waiting to hear from you, your eminence Cardinal Leonardo Sandri. Instead of assuming the role of a puppet in the hands of corrupted cardinal Alencherry, you have to become a solution for the millions of Christians in India.