A Church Divided

-Dr Rosemary Varghese

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls      -Luke 11:17

Two significant meetings took place in the past weeks in Rome.  A delegation led by the Hon. Justice Kurien Joseph (retd) which included representatives of the Ernakulam -Angamaly archdiocese met the Pope earlier this month in order to get his permission to conduct Holy Mass in the liturgical mode of their choice, in opposition to the Synod decision of a unified mode for the entire Syro-Malabar Church.  Soon after, the Synod representatives of the Syro-Malabar Church led by the Major Archbishop met His Holiness. Having heard both sides of the issue, the Pope made a formal address that has been published on the Vatican News website. To say the least, it is an unambiguous  and uncompromising assessment of the destructive spiritual cyclone that has swept through the community of Syrian Catholics in Kerala.

The Pontiff’s address indicates that he has a very comprehensive understanding of the situation on ground. With regard to the crisis the Church faces, he gently but firmly points out what caused it, and how to steer clear of this self-initiated holocaust that threatens to annihilate the entire community that once held its pride of place locally and globally. In this article I wish to expand on some important points His Holiness emphasized, with the intention of underlining its importance and its biblical underpinnings.

The first is about obedience- the sacred vow that every priest takes as he accepts the mantle of shepherding the flock. The Pope makes a direct connection between disobedience and division— “Where there is disobedience, there is schism.” He reminds  his audience of the hierarchy that Jesus personally established through Peter, the rock on which the Church was built. His thoughts on the issue are summed up in a single statement - “This is what the Church wants, for apart from Peter, apart from the Major Archbishop, there is no Church.”.

Obedience to God’s Word forms the bedrock of true Christian faith and its importance is reiterated in the Old and New Testaments. John’s Gospel tells us that it is synonymous with loving God. “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” One cannot claim to love God without implicit obedience to His Word. The Old Testament explains the seriousness of this offence, and often the punishment for disobeying  God was swift and serious. 1 Samuel 15  speaks of how Samuel admonishes King Saul for His disobedience to God’s instructions, emphasizing the gravity of his transgressions

 “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry”

Samuel’s advice speaks loudly and clearly to the priests in question today. A liturgical standpoint cannot take precedence over their cardinal duty to obey. If it does, it opens the window to evil forces that finally lead their victims towards total spiritual blindness.

Having categorically stated the consequences of disobedience within the church hierarchy, the Pope goes directly to the burning issue in question. He begins by reminding his audience of his earlier letters and video messages that warned them of the danger of harping on one detail, prioritizing it above every other consideration. He explains the problem as follows—"It stems from a self-referentiality, which leads to listening to no other way of thinking but one’s own. In Spanish we call this self-referentiality “yo, me, mi, con migo, para mi”: “I, me, with me, for me, everything for me”. Emphasizing its meaning and consequences in two languages, he warns the people of the work of the devil, who divides where God seeks to unite.

 Following this, the Holy Father recounts in a nutshell, all that had ensued as a result of this unholy rebellion. I quote it in full, so that nothing remains unclear or unsaid—

" There is one certainty: pride, recriminations and envy do not come from the Lord and never lead to concord and peace. Showing a grave lack of respect for the Blessed Sacrament – the Sacrament of charity and unity – by arguing about the details of how to celebrate the Eucharist, the pinnacle of his presence among us, is incompatible with the Christian faith.” 

There is nothing more to be added to that. The details of that unforgettable and ugly spectacle on  Christmas Eve of 2022 at  St Mary’s Basilica remain alive in the minds of everyone who is remotely connected with the Church. Priests and laity on both sides of the divide outdid themselves in insulting the Holy Eucharist. The forces of darkness had besieged the seat of the Syro-Malabar Church- St Mary’s Basilica. This time the writing was on the wall. The Light of the world had left the premises of the church, and it remains deserted upto this day.

From this point, the Holy Father makes an attempt to redirect this rudderless ship to the destination God the Father has set for every true believer in Christ. “…. let us think about the vast horizon of the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us, the mission to be a sign of his loving presence in the world, and not a scandal to those who do not believe!” He encourages everyone to reach out to those who are sick and suffering, to return evil with good, and to be mindful of our mission on earth. Looking back over the past couple of years in the calendar of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, it has been a season of chaos and spiritual paralysis, far removed from the mission entrusted to the church. Family union meetings under the Basilica parish came to a grinding halt. As a consequence of the legal ban on Eucharistic celebrations at the Basilica, the church remained closed to all religious celebrations. Demonstration by rival groups against the celebration of Holy Mass in a particular liturgical mode led to further legal bans in other churches within the archdiocese. Visiting papal representatives who did not respond positively to the demands of the break-away group were  greeted with brickbats and verbal abuse.  Angry divisions were created within a cohesive and actively practising Catholic community. What should have been settled at the level of the clergy was dragged into the public space and fought out with the vengeance and hatred of a bloody political battle. The archdiocese has clearly lost its moorings. Those who are locked in combat have drifted into a spiritual limbo that  has robbed them of grace and goodness. One wonders whether they will respond to the call of the Holy Father; or will they choose to continue their campaign as people who fit in with Isaiah’s description —They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes ,so that they cannot see , and their hearts , so that they cannot understand,”

The Pope ends his address on a high note of hope for all who may have temporarily gone astray, and he invokes this with the example of St Thomas, the patron saint of Syrian Christians. Thomas was in doubt about the Resurrection. Having spent his life as an apostle of Christ , he still had misgivings and his faith failed him. But Jesus appeared to him, and an amazement engulfed him. The Pope invites them to experience St Thomas’s exhilaration and excitement on encountering the Risen Lord— “It is an amazement that generates hope, an amazement that prompted him to go out, to cross new borders and to become your father in faith. Let us cultivate this amazement of faith, which enables us to overcome every obstacle!”

Our hope is renewed as we approach the Feast of the Pentecost.  As a faithful member of the Syro-Malabar Church and a parishioner of the St Mary’s Basilica parish, I pray for a powerful  outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Ernakulam -Angamaly archdiocese and the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala. May the Spirit enable us to enter into the Lord’s court as one people , unified by the blood of Christ, and strengthened by His Word.  May St Mary’s Basilica spring back to life with the Eucharistic celebration that will dispel the darkness and bring back the Light forever.