It feels a little strange to write my fourth post on this matter (see here, here and here ). But problems with the orientation of the priest as he presides the Eucharist continues to be a issue in the Syro-Malabar Church.
Last Thursday some disgruntled members of the faithful of the Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly burnt effigies of Cardinal Mar George Alencherry and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri outside a pastoral center in Kochi. Photos of the protest have apparently become widespread on social media of some members of the Syro-Malabar Church (pictures can be seen here)
These events were preceded by a meeting of the Archeparchy’s clergy with 316 priests in attendance. This was a high percentage of the priests, Wikipedia lists 451 priests in the Archeparchy. These passed a motion requesting a further dispensation allowing the priests of the diocese to continue celebrating the Eucharist fully versus populum. This was rejected in line with a February 28 letter from Cardinal Sandri that revoked a previous dispensation.
Unsurprisingly, the official Syro-Malabar Church was not at all pleased at the burning of effigies and condemned the protest.
On one level I feel that I am not qualified to comment on this matter (and in no way do I propose that liturgical controversies be resolved by burning effigies of Cardinals or anyone else). When it comes to the Eastern Rites I am an armchair liturgist. I did an MTh in liturgical theology at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in NY, but I am a Western priest who always celebrated with the current edition of the Roman Missal. I have attended various Eastern liturgies and am struck by the beauty that is there. I was also profoundly struck by the work of Fr. Alexander Schmemann in St. Vladimir’s where his presence continues to be felt. On another level however, I consider that these are important issues that the Church, both East and West, needs to reflect on. That is why I am posting on this matter.
Basically, there are two factors at play here and I think it is important to consider both. On one level there is the current desire of Rome to respect the liturgical traditions and patrimony of the Christian East. Number 6 of Vatican II’s Orientalium Ecclesiarum, the Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite clearly annunciates this principle:
All members of the Eastern Rite should know and be convinced that they can and should always preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and their established way of life, and that these may not be altered except to obtain for themselves an organic improvement. All these, then, must be observed by the members of the Eastern rites themselves. Besides, they should attain to an ever greater knowledge and a more exact use of them, and, if in their regard they have fallen short owing to contingencies of times and persons, they should take steps to return to their ancestral traditions.
Recently, speaking about Eastern Rites in general, Cardinal Sandri, encouraged Eastern Catholics “to avoid solitary escapes in pursuit of reforms that do not take into account the heritage shared with the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches.”
However, while ecumenism must be a priority for all Christians, it is unlikely that Catholics will reestablish communion with the Eastern Churches in the near future no matter how closely we keep our liturgical practices. Unfortunately, ecumenism is currently an area that is a minefield of different considerations. In times past, undoubtedly the Catholic Church was guilty of a forced Latinization of Eastern Catholics. However, the Eastern Rites are not more perfect than the Western. It is not the case that Eastern traditions are automatically older or more authentic than Western traditions. Despite what may have happened in prior ages, objectively speaking just as the West can and should learn from the East, so should the East learn from the West. Additionally the Eastern rites are not static. Unlike the centralized Western rites, their liturgical development is more a bottom to top phenomenon. Changes happen over time and are gradually adopted and become normal and official as a recognition of what has happened.
So Eastern Catholics cannot be held hostage to Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox liturgical norms. The principle of Orientalium Ecclesiarum and respect for other Eastern Christians is important. But the pastoral good and the growth of a genuine Christian spirit that can face the challenges of today’s world and can express the Faith in a way that relates to people today is also a vital principle that ought also to be considered. This balance isn’t easy and there will be trial and error, but the questions must be confronted.
The Syro-Malabar Christians started celebrating versus populum in the wake of Vatican II. Initially this probably mimicked Christians of the Roman Rite whose liturgical books were revised before the Syro-Malabar books were revised. Now a generation or two later, it might be a little too late to put the genie back into the bottle. Moreover, unlike the Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine rite, the Syro-Malabar Church does not have an exact equivalent among the non-Catholic Churches that use an East Syriac rite. So the question is, given that millions of Syro-Malabar Christians find versus populum presiding of the Eucharist to be a spiritually beneficial practice, then why oughtn’t it be allowed as an option?
Prior to the twentieth century celebrating versus populum was not a particularly Western liturgical practice. Both East and West prayed ad orientem for most of Christian history. In the West after Vatican II a monumental decision was made to allow versus populum. This wasn’t a particularly Western tradition or a renewal of an earlier liturgical practice. It was a big change that simply made sense for the situation today. Facing a secularized society which suffered from a loss of the sense of the sacred, pastors and liturgists thought that allowing people to see the celebration better would have the potential of increasing active participation in the liturgy. Admittedly, this doesn’t always work and there is a danger of the liturgy becoming a closed circle or too focussed on the person of the priest. However, the vast majority of Roman Catholics have found this to be a beneficial practice.
So the question that should be considered today is whether the Christian East is facing similar challenges and similar secularization? If so, then maybe they should consider a similarly radical renewal.
Cover image under a creative commons license is Guy Fawkes’ bonfire, Carshalton Park cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Christopher Hilton – geograph.org.uk/p/2681900
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