The question whether the celebrant should face the congregation (westward) or eastward during Mass, a bone of contention in the Syro-Malabar Church for several decades, is back in focus again. On the agenda of the Church Synod meeting at St Thomas Mount in Kochi, headquarters of the Church, from January 7 are possible changes to the liturgy and the direction the celebrant should take during Mass. Monsignor Varghese Njaliath, senior priest and an expert on liturgy, on January 2 made an appeal to the Synod not to ban the practice of priests celebrating Mass facing the congregation.