THIS EASTERN RITE OF THE CHURCH HAS MANY FEARING THAT IN ORDER TO PROMOTE UNITY, MASS FACING THE PEOPLE WILL BE BANNED—YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

 

I know very little about this Eastern Rite based in India, but many priests imported from India for the Latin Rite are of the Syro-Malabar Eastern Rite.

There has been controversy over the decades about Latinizing this Rite after Vatican II especially as it concerns facing the congregation. The push by their synod is to return to ad orientem and a compromise was developed as is recalled by this article in “The Hindu” Newspaper in India in 2020:

‘Liturgical unity’

The question whether the celebrant should face the congregation (westward) or eastward during the holy Mass, a bone of contention in the Syro-Malabar Church for several decades, is back in focus again. 

In the controversy, a golden mean was struck sometime back with the celebrant being allowed to face the congregation up to the homily and then being allowed to celebrate the consecration of the host and rest of the Mass facing away from the people. Even the compromise formula has been skipped in Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese where the mass is celebrated with the celebrant facing the congregation throughout. There is a large section of the faithful in the archdiocese who fear a ban on Mass facing the congregation, to bring about liturgical unity.

Then earlier this week Pope Francis issued a short letter to the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Rite encouraging liturgical unity. Interestingly enough, the Holy Father releases it not from the Vatican but the Major Basilica of St. John Lateran which is the Cathedral Church of Rome:

To the Bishops, Clergy, Religious and Laity of the Syro-Malabar Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Holy See regards with special approval and encouragement the agreement unanimously reached by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church in 1999 – and repeatedly endorsed in subsequent years – for a uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion within the whole body of your beloved Church. The concerted efforts towards applying this auspicious development in the great Jubilee Year 2000 gave joyful confidence in your sui iuris Church to my saintly predecessor Pope John Paul II.

Notwithstanding some difficulties, which require ongoing discernment in the life of your vibrant Church, the approved norms for the Eucharistic celebration have borne considerable fruit including evangelization in those places, especially the missionary Eparchies, where the whole community has joined in peaceful and prayerful observance, interpreting the continuing consensus of the Hierarchy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I strongly urge the Syro-Malabar Bishops to persevere, and I confirm their ecclesial “walking together” with God’s people, trusting that “time is greater than space” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 222-225) and that “unity prevails over conflict” (cf. ibid, 226-230).I willingly take the occasion of the recognition of the new Raza Qurbana Taksa to exhort all the clergy, religious and lay faithful to proceed to a prompt implementation of the uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, for the greater good and unity of your Church. May the Holy Spirit foster harmony, fraternity and unity among all members of your Church as you work to implement the Synodal decision.

Entrusting all of you to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Patriarch Saint Joseph and the Apostle Saint Thomas, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing. I assure you of my closeness in prayer and ask you, please, to pray for me.

FRANCIS

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 3 July 2021

My comments: It appears Pope Francis is endorsing the Syro-Malabar’s 1999 Synod compromise on the liturgy which is basically this: The 1999 Synod basically adopted a compromise position, where the priest will face east from the Eucharistic prayers until Communion, and the people for the rest of the liturgy.

What does this tell us about the much touted but yet to appear revision of Summorum Pontiicum by Pope Francis as it concerns our own Latin Rite controversies which revolve around ad orientem and Latin?

It appears the Holy Father wants liturgical unity in the Syro-Malabar Rite in India where acrimony over the liturgy and which rite to use has been going on since the 1980’s. It appears too, that the Holy Father sees the reintroduction of the 1962 Latin Rite Missal as a source of division and disunity in the Latin Rite. 

Will the restrictions on the celebration of the EF Mass lead to a more codified revision of the Ordinary Form as a compromise? Would that compromise in fact be what has been celebrated in Rome by the Holy Father on a few occasions where the Liturgy of the Eucharist is ad orientem and the rest facing “westward?” 

What say you as it concerns the pope’s vision of the liturgical unity but also encouraging inculturation which can introduce a great deal of divisiveness into worshipping communities?