IN THE NAME OF HOLY MASS THE SYRO MALABAR CHURCH IS ABOUT TO BREAK

The dispute now surfaced in the Syro Malabar Church seems to be spreading wildly. Since both, the priesthood and the laity are holding adamant nature in the uniform Holy Mass issue an amicable settlement cannot be expected in the near future.  These are all can be viewed as the aftermath of miscalculations by the priesthood during the long history of Christianity. Pope Pius V in 1570 introduced a uniform system of Holy Mass to find an end to the scattered and haphazard manner celebration of the Sacrament in different parts of the world. Latin was used to conduct the sacrament by Catholic community from 1570 to 1970 when it was brought into the regional languages. Even though all those unifications and modifications could have made accepted by laitey without making any rough reaction the current unified form of Mass could not get that smooth acceptance. The simple reason for this is that the ruling priesthood have not considered the fact that India is a democratic country and the largest in the world. Anything that concerned with the laity is expected to have consulted with the congregation at least as a formality. Besides these, when we establish a system we must at least ensure ourselves the need and reasonability of it. Since all these customery things we are performing here are nothing but prayer or worship, the receiver of these the Supreme One does not have any left or right, east or west, front or back or up or down. As such performing the Holy Mass should be with our face this side or that side has no significance. Where our mind is the only important aspect.

When the Church talk too proudly about the Holy Mass and other observations we must know the fact that Lord Jesus Christ has not even taught a prayer to the common man, leave alone the observations like the Holy Mass, Sacrament of Confession etc. These are all the creations of the priesthood for the survival of the Church. Now, finally what is the aftermath of such observations? Let us now imagine about a person who right through his life attend the Holy Mass and do confession every day. Can the Church assure that person will reach the Kingdom of God after the life in this world. However, on the other hand, another person who has never attended the Holy Mass or made a single confession in the whole life strictly adhered to the words of Jesus Christ (Mathew 22:37 - 40) will certainly reach the Kingdom of Heaven that is Jesus Himself. This shows the significance of the Holy Mass in Christianity.

If uniformity is the prime criteria in the revision of Holy Mass, we should have considered other relevant aspects too.

As per available information Catholic Church in India has 10,701 Parishes, 174 Dioceses. Of these, 132 Dioceses are of Latin Church, 31 of Syro Malabar Catholic Church and 11 are Syro Malankara Catholic Church. If we count the total number of churches all those Catholic Divisions are put together may be found and see what percentage of these churches use large curtains between the sanctuary and the nave. Lord Jesus Christ Himself by His Supreme Sacrifice torn the curtain. Yet the powerful priesthood the equally powerful share of the laity refuse to admit the command of Jesus. Similarly the Mar Thoma Cross is placed on the Altar table during the Holy Mass in many churches and in another good number of churches this cross is not used. Why uniformity is not demanded here. One may make some fast visit to about ten different churches of Syro Malabar Church for Sunday morning Mass. We may find different songs during the Mass in different churches. Why uniformity is not demanded. Most of the people attending the Mass do not know these modern songs and therefore, they are constrained to be kept silent. Surprisingly many of us know the Sandhya Prarthana of the Hindus, "Rama Rama Phahima ...", because we hear the same songs from our childhood.

If the priesthood really wants to sort out the issue amicably, it is only possible by discussion across the table. The Church may call a certain number of representatives from the community and discuss the matter in a cordial atmosphere. Try to avoid public procession and such relevant aspects.  " ... There shall be one sheepfold and one shepherd." (John 10:16) And this must be the reason for the Lord did not provide any sort of conventional observation in the church. I wish to suggest therefore, that, let us not go for further diversification, instead, try to minimise the existing observations. Under no circumstances the Church should not be allowed to break.

K V George