{"id":57289,"date":"2021-08-14T18:48:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T23:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=57289"},"modified":"2021-08-19T14:55:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:55:50","slug":"syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/07\/06\/a-uniform-mode-of-celebrating\/\">wrote<\/a> last month about Pope Francis\u2019 letter on the Syro-Malabar liturgy. Pope Francis wanted to foster to \u201ca uniform mode of celebrating the Holy <em>Qurbana, <\/em>considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now it is being reported in the <a href=\"https:\/\/mattersindia.com\/2021\/08\/priests-appeal-pope-against-uniform-mode-of-mass-celebration\/\">press<\/a> that all \u201c456 priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly have written to Pope Francis saying they want to continue to offer Mass facing people, a practice that the Syro-Malabar eparchy has followed for the past 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Again, please allow me to stress that I am well outside my area of expertise when dealing with liturgy in the Syro-Malabar Church.\u00a0 But I believe that since their union with Rome and particularly under the Portuguese from the 1500\u2019s many Latinizations crept into the Syro-Malabar liturgy.\u00a0 Immediately after Vatican II some of the reforms that were applied to the Roman Rite were also adopted by Syro-Malabar priests. Over the last few years there has been an official encouragement from the Congregation for the Oriental Churches to readopt Eastern practices to bring the liturgy in the Eastern Churches in full communion with the Holy See more in line with the liturgy as celebrated in the Eastern Churches that are not in full communion with the Holy See.<\/p>\n<p>While this is a laudable goal, it does not always meet with agreement from the Christians who worship in these Churches.\u00a0 Over time the Latinizations (be they historical or simply coming from the post-Vatican II renewal of the Roman Rite) have become part of the prayer lives of these Christians and whatever the reason they simply are happy with things the way they are and have little desire to change.<\/p>\n<p>A case in point is the direction the celebrant faces during the Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora.\u00a0 Apparently, some priests of the Syro-Malabar Church celebrate facing the assembly (<em>versus populum<\/em>) and others celebrate facing East (<em>ad orientem<\/em>).\u00a0 The priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly apparently are used to celebrate facing the assembly. It is interesting that each and every one of the 456 priests agreed to sign the letter. A Synod will take place in the Syro-Malabar Church from 16-24 August and it will consider the implementation of the newly published <em>Raza Qurbana Taksa<\/em>. it seems that the priests of this Archdiocese are afraid that the Church as a whole will decide to adopt \u201ca uniform mode of celebrating the Holy <em>Qurbana<\/em>\u201d in which the anaphora would be prayed <em>ad orientem<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Personally <a href=\"https:\/\/alcuinclub.org.uk\/product\/liturgical-orientation-the-position-of-the-president-at-the-eucharist\/\">I believe that it is normally more pastorally effective to celebrate <em>versus populum<\/em><\/a>, but I realize that there are other factors at play here. But I will be watching from the sidelines and keeping the Syro-Malabar Church in my prayers hoping that they are able to balance unity with pastoral effectiveness and charity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote last month about Pope Francis\u2019 letter on the Syro-Malabar liturgy. Pope Francis wanted to foster to \u201ca uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion.\u201d Now it is being reported in the press that all \u201c456 priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":57290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3116,1081,43,2224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-new-ws","category-church-reform","category-eastern-liturgy","category-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I wrote last month about Pope Francis\u2019 letter on the Syro-Malabar liturgy. Pope Francis wanted to foster to \u201ca uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion.\u201d Now it is being reported in the press that all \u201c456 priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly have [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-14T23:48:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-19T19:55:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1599\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Neil Xavier O&#039;Donoghue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Neil Xavier O&#039;Donoghue\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1\"},\"headline\":\"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-14T23:48:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-19T19:55:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"commentCount\":32,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"1_NEWS\",\"Church Reform\",\"Eastern Liturgy\",\"Pope Francis\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/\",\"name\":\"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-14T23:48:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-19T19:55:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg\",\"width\":1599,\"height\":1066,\"caption\":\"St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam by Augustus Binu\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/14\\\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1\",\"name\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue\"},\"description\":\"Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue is originally from Cork, Ireland. He is a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ who has ministered in parishes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spent many years as an academic mentor to seminarians. Neil currently serves as Programme Director for Liturgical Programmes at the Pontifical University and as Acting Director of the National Centre for Liturgy. Since 2020 he has also served as the Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. He has studied at Seton Hall University (BA, MDiv), the University of Notre Dame (MA), and St Vladimir\u2019s Orthodox Theological Seminary (MTh). He holds a Doctorate in Theology (Ph.D.) from St Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth and is in the process of completing a second doctorate (D.D) in the Pontifical Facultad de Teolog\u00eda Redemptoris Mater in Callao, Peru. Neil has published a translation of the Confessio of St. Patrick: St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works (Totowa, NJ, 2009), as well editing the third edition of Fredrick Edward Warren\u2019s The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Piscataway, NJ, 2010). In 2011 the University of Notre Dame Press published The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland an adaptation of his doctoral thesis and in 2017 the Alcuin Club published his Liturgical Orientation: The Position of the President at the Eucharist. His articles have appeared in The Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, The Furrow and Antiphon. He writes a monthly article on some aspect of the theology of Pope Francis in the Messenger of St. Anthony and blogs regularly at PrayTell.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/nxodonoghue\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People - Home","og_description":"I wrote last month about Pope Francis\u2019 letter on the Syro-Malabar liturgy. Pope Francis wanted to foster to \u201ca uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana, considering this an important step towards increasing stability and ecclesial communion.\u201d Now it is being reported in the press that all \u201c456 priests of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly have [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2021-08-14T23:48:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-19T19:55:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1599,"height":1066,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/"},"author":{"name":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1"},"headline":"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People","datePublished":"2021-08-14T23:48:51+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-19T19:55:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":32,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg","articleSection":["1_NEWS","Church Reform","Eastern Liturgy","Pope Francis"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/","name":"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg","datePublished":"2021-08-14T23:48:51+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-19T19:55:50+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg","width":1599,"height":1066,"caption":"St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam by Augustus Binu"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/14\/syro-malabar-priests-petition-pope-francis-to-celebrate-the-eucharist-facing-the-people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Syro-Malabar Priests Petition Pope Francis to Celebrate the Eucharist Facing the People"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f7362fbadbf041d262868e0dd315fc1","name":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2024_09_NeiL_Portrait-96x96.jpeg?crop=1","caption":"Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue"},"description":"Neil Xavier O\u2019Donoghue is originally from Cork, Ireland. He is a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ who has ministered in parishes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spent many years as an academic mentor to seminarians. Neil currently serves as Programme Director for Liturgical Programmes at the Pontifical University and as Acting Director of the National Centre for Liturgy. Since 2020 he has also served as the Executive Secretary for Liturgy to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. He has studied at Seton Hall University (BA, MDiv), the University of Notre Dame (MA), and St Vladimir\u2019s Orthodox Theological Seminary (MTh). He holds a Doctorate in Theology (Ph.D.) from St Patrick\u2019s College, Maynooth and is in the process of completing a second doctorate (D.D) in the Pontifical Facultad de Teolog\u00eda Redemptoris Mater in Callao, Peru. Neil has published a translation of the Confessio of St. Patrick: St. Patrick: His Confession and Other Works (Totowa, NJ, 2009), as well editing the third edition of Fredrick Edward Warren\u2019s The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Piscataway, NJ, 2010). In 2011 the University of Notre Dame Press published The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland an adaptation of his doctoral thesis and in 2017 the Alcuin Club published his Liturgical Orientation: The Position of the President at the Eucharist. His articles have appeared in The Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, The Furrow and Antiphon. He writes a monthly article on some aspect of the theology of Pope Francis in the Messenger of St. Anthony and blogs regularly at PrayTell.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/nxodonoghue\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1599px-St._Marys_Syro-Malabar_Cathedral_Basilica_Ernakulam_by_Augustus_Binu.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57289"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57292,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57289\/revisions\/57292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}