Catholic priests in a troubled Indian Church archdiocese have called off a four-day protest after an assurance of dialogue to resolve their demands amid a raging decades-old liturgy dispute on the rubrics of Mass. The temporary truce within the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, based in southern Kerala state, was reached on Jan. 13. The protesting priests were hoping for a settlement of the liturgy dispute at the Synod of Bishops, which was held from Jan. 6 to 11. On Jan. 9, some 21 priests entered the archbishop’s house to press their demands. However, the police evicted them on Jan. 11 and moved them to the adjacent compound of St. Mary’s Cathedral Basi-lica. “The protest was called off after the new vicar, Archbishop Joseph Pamplany, agreed to consider our demands and hold a dialogue to resolve them,” said Fr Kuria-kose Mundadan, the presbytery council secretary of the troubled Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. Nearly 12 priests sustained injuries, including fractures, in the police action, leading to public protests by priests, nuns, and laypeople in the arch-diocese on Jan. 12. “They demanded action against police officials for their barbaric actions,” Mundadan told on Jan. 13.
When the situation escalated, the district collector convened a meeting with Church officials and the protesters late on Jan. 12. The Church authorities assigned Vicar General Father Jacob G Palakkappilly for the meeting, but the protesters refused to speak to him, saying he did not have the mandate to make a decision. Instead, they insisted on holding talks in the presence of Pamplany, the newly-appointed vicar of the archdiocese and the Archbishop of Tellicherry in Kerala state. The collector, the district’s top govern-ment official, contacted Pamplany, who was traveling but was asked to abort his journey. He joined the talks around 10.30 pm. The discussions continued until 1:30 am on Jan. 13, when Pamplany agreed in writing to consider the protesting priests’ demands, which included setting up cano-nical bodies in the archdiocese, considering the appointment of new curia, and halting all disciplinary actions initiated against them. The prelate also agreed to begin a dialogue with the priests and lay leaders regarding all the pending issues, including the liturgy dispute, from Jan. 20. Earna-kulam-Angamaly Archdiocese is the seat of power of the Church’s head and the biggest diocese, with close to 10% of the over five million followers worldwide.