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Francis Triggers Syro-Malabar Rite RevoltProgressive clergy reject pope's compromise formula for ancient liturgyKERALA, India (ChurchMilitant.com) - India's Syro-Malabar rite priests are rebelling against Pope Francis' recent letter that imposes liturgical uniformity by approving a compromise between facing the altar and facing the congregation while offering the Holy Qurbana (Eucharist). Pope Francis meets scandal-plagued Cdl. Alencherry All 456 priests of the Syro-Malabar archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly wrote to Francis Tuesday insisting they would celebrate Mass ad populum (facing the people), breaking with the ancient Chaldean tradition of offering the Holy Qurbana ad orientem (facing East).The revolt has intensified the ongoing liturgical crisis...

Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, the head of India’s autonomous Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, died in Kochi, India on April 1 of heart disease. The 84-year-old cardinal, who had cut back on his public activities after surviving a serious heart attack in 2009, suffered another attack soon after celebrating Mass in is private chapel. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died soon thereafter. A Redemptorist priest, then-Father Varkey Vithayathil was named apostolic administrator of Ernakulum, the primatial see of the Syro-Malabar Church, in 1996, upon the retirement of Cardinal Antony Padiyara. In 1999 he was formally named as...

The Christian community of Qatar is celebrating the opening of a new Church. The ceremony of consecration took place June 11th last and was presided over by Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma, leader of the Marthoma church. Vice Metropolitan Zacharias Mar Theophilos, five pastors and more than one thousand faithful also took part in the ceremony. The place of worship is the latest addition to the Inter-Denominational Church Complex, (Idcc) in Mesaimeer, in the southern suburbs of Doha. Marthoma Church belongs to a Christian Protestant denomination, based in Kerala, India, and in communion with the Anglican and Independent Syro-Malabar Churches. 2500...

Having been occupied since 2005 by protesting parishioners, a closed suburban Boston parish is going bi-ritual, with a Syro-Malybar priest to offer one Sunday liturgy in the India-born rite (which celebrates its Eucharist ad orientem), and another in the Roman rite: The archdiocese is hailing the plan as a testament to improved relations between church officials and the protesters; the protesters are denouncing what they say was a lack of consultation with them about the plan, but say they are happy to share space with a group of Catholics in need and optimistic after an initial conversation with Vadana...

Kakkanad, Aug. 25, 2006 (CNA) - Eastern-rite Catholics of the Syro-Malabar Church, who live in Latin-rite territories, say they face severe challenges in practicing their faith and traditions, reported UCA News. About 400 people attended a global conference for the Syro-Malabar Church Aug. 18-20 in Kochi, Kerala, 2,595 kilometers south of New Delhi, to discuss challenges the community is facing. The delegates called on their bishops to provide more pastoral care for diaspora communities. They also blamed Latin-rite Church leaders for suppressing and discriminating against Eastern-rite Catholics in their jurisdiction. The delegates represented Syro-Malabar Church (SMC) communities in Australia, Canada,...

Rani Joseph, a professor of economics at a local college, belongs to a typical middle-class Catholic Christian family in Kerala. How does Rani react to Cardinal Mar Varkey Vidayathil's call on Sunday to the Catholic community to have more babies? Cardinal Mar Varkey Vidayathil, the archbishop of the Catholic Church in Kerala, has asked Catholic families to have more children because the population of Christians is declining. A market mentality is dominating relationships, the archbishop said, and the very future and sanctity of the family is in danger. So affluent Christians must have more children, he said. This advice comes...

Kottayam, Jan 14: Mar Mathew Moolakkatt was appointed as the Archbishop of the Knanaya Catholic Church here today. Mar Moolakkatt is the second Archbishop of the church. He was appointed following the retirement of Archbishop Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry after 38 years of service as Bishop of the Church. The Knanaya Catholics are the descendants of the families who had migrated to Kerala in 345 AD along with Knai Thoma.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Once again returning to a streamlined practice in place before the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI chose a private audience for the signing of a variety of decrees related to sainthood causes. Pope Benedict met Dec. 19 with Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, and authorized the publication of decrees related to 19 causes. Pope John Paul also authorized publication of decrees during meetings with the prefect, but the meetings were anything but private. The postulators of the individual causes were invited, as were local bishops or...

BANGALORE, India, JULY 11, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has expressed his desire to visit India, says Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore. "The Pope expressed his desire to visit India when I had a brief exchange with him during my visit to Rome on June 29-30," the archbishop told a press conference here. His comments were reported by ICNS, the Indian bishops' news service. Archbishop Moras was in Rome to receive the pallium, a woolen band that symbolizes the bond between archbishops and the Pope. The archbishop said that he would invite the Holy Father to Karnataka and Bangalore in particular,...

For the past several years I have witnessed an ongoing crisis of identity within the Roman Catholic Church, which is evident even on the campus of Franciscan University. Often reduced to the battle between "Conservatives" versus "Progressives" or "Traditionalists" versus "Charismatics," the issues involved are multifaceted and complex. I have tried to make my own contribution to this debate, with varying degrees of success. Now I'd like to address it from a new perspective, i.e. as a kind of outsider, for that is indeed what I have become. I am an Eastern Christian. While gladly submitting to the authority of...

The Christian Church was born in the Holy Land, what we call the Middle East today. As it spread, the Church took on the ways of the nations which accepted it. In this country, most Christian churches are 'western' because their roots are in western Europe, and their ways reflect the culture of the German, Irish or Italian immigrants who founded them. Some American churches, were started by people from Eastern Europe or the Middle East. They still keep the ways of the Holy Land (Jerusalem, where Christ founded His Church; Antioch, where the name Christian was first used; Damascus,...