Almaya Munnettam, a combine of lay people in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Church, said the recent circular issued by Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches of the Catholic Church, was not against the fully congregation-facing Mass being celebrated in the Archdiocese.
A statement issued by the combine of the lay people here on Monday claimed that there was no instruction from Rome that the celebrant (priest) should face away from the congregation (participants) during the Mass.
The Almaya Munnettam communication also claimed that the letter from the Congregation for Oriental Churches was addressed to Cardinal George Alencherry and its reference to "activism" was a warning to the Cardinal even as it did not endorse a Mass celebration with the celebrant facing away from the congregation.
The Synod of bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church had decided in August last year that a unified system of Mass celebration should be introduced. The unified system involved the priest facing the congregation for the first half of the Mass and then facing away from them for the second half. However, a group of faithful, including members of archdiocese like Ernakulam-Angamaly, have demanded they should be allowed to continue with the way they had been celebrating the Mass for about 50 years, in which the celebrant faced the congregation for the entire duration of the Mass.
