One of the many peculiarities of Vatican II is that, whilst the liturgy in the west was dramatically recast with little regard for tradition, a completely different approach was taken towards the liturgies of the 23 Eastern Churches who are in full communion with Rome. In Orientalium Ecclesiarum Eastern Catholics were exhorted to ‘cherish’ their historic traditions and it was noted that ‘practices sanctioned by a noble antiquity harmonize better with the customs of the faithful and are more likely to foster the good of souls’. Unfortunately, as we are all aware, these wise principles of Orientalium Ecclesiarum were ignored in the west. One of the Eastern Churches which has taken these principles to heart is the Syro-Malabar, Church which has put a lot of effort into preserving its identity and rites amongst a wide spread Diaspora. The name combines their origins in the South West Indian state of Kerala, historically known as the ‘Malabar Coast’ with their use of the ancient Syriac Rite, hence ‘Syro-Malabar’. The origin of the Church goes back to the Apostle ‘Doubting’ Thomas, who is honoured by Indian Christians as the Apostle who brought Christianity to the subcontinent. Most Indian Churches have a statue or icon of St Thomas which emphasises not his doubts but rather his dramatic declaration of faith ‘My Lord and my God’.
There are about 38,000 Syro- Malabars in Britain. With 84 Priests they collectively form an Eparchy, which is a form of special diocese covering the whole of Great Britain, and they have their own bishop, Joseph Srampickal, who is a member of the Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales. Prior to 2015 the Syro-Malabar community was in a situation with which LMS members will be familiar, being squatters in many parish churches dependent on the kindness of the local parish priest to fit in a Syro-Malabar service with the ordinary parish routine. Certainly, they were treated with generosity by many parishes but, ultimately, there is nothing to compare with having a place of your own. Therefore, in 2015, Bishop O’Donoghue of Lancaster gave the Syro-Malabar Eparchy its first Church in Britain: St Alphonsa in Preston. Which, as the home of their Bishop, was given the status of a cathedral. At the inauguration of the cathedral so many people came that the service had to be moved to Preston North End Football Ground, locals said it was the biggest and best behaved crowd PNE had all season! It is worth noting that Bishop O’Dongohue had previously given the church of St Walburge to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest to serve as a specialist Latin Mass Church, and perhaps that encouraged him to recognise the value of specialist Churches supporting distinctive rites.
Following on from giving the Church of St Mary to the FSSP, Archbishop McMahon of Liverpool has now given the Syro-Malabars their second church: Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) in Litherland. This has given a new lease of life to OLQP, which now has a large lively and enthusiastic congregation. They certainly need to be enthusiastic because Syro-Malabar services are not short, 1hour 30mins seems to be regarded as fairly quick and before that there is a 30 minute rosary said in Malayalam, the language of Kerala. The rosary however is easy to pick up in any language, I’ve joined in rosaries said in Thai, Hindi, Maltese, Quebec French and Alabama English, it is the most recognisable of all Catholic prayers. The fact that the service is in Malayalam shows that liturgical change can be made without the wholesale upheaval that we had in the west. The traditional liturgical language of the Syro-Malabar rite was Syriac but, prior to Vatican II permission was given to replace Syriac with Malayalam, i.e. the vernacular, but this change in liturgical language was just that, a change in language and not a change to the liturgy as a whole. It makes you wonder why we didn’t think of that.
The Syro-Malabar community puts a lot of efforts into preserving their heritage including music and, in a sung Mass, the music to a western ear can sound rather more Bollywood than Gregorian Chant. However the choir is impressive and listening to them certainly reinforces the sad point that the English Church puts little effort into maintaining our liturgical music tradition. For the western Catholic used to the Ordinary Form Mass in English the initial experience of a Syro-Malabar Mass (or ‘Holy Qurbana’ literally ‘offering’) can be disorienting but is probably easier for those used to the Latin Mass. The liturgy is of course different and perhaps more flowery but the basic structure is reassuringly familiar, prayer, readings from the Bible, sermon, consecration and communion are all dignified, prayerful and recognisable whether you speak Malayalam or not. Reading an English translation of the Holy Qurbana reveals many familiar prayers and blessings and regulars at the Latin Mass are already used to a service in another language so we know the basic rules, stand, sit or kneel when everyone else does.
It is noticeable that in the Syro-Malabar Rite the Consecration takes place ‘Ad Orientum’ once again a familiar experience to Latin Mass regulars. One interesting difference is that Communion is by way of intinction with the consecrated host being dipped in the consecrated wine and then placed on the tongue. It is certainly far more hygienic than having everyone drinking from the same chalice as happens in OF Masses. Having visited OLQP I certainly applaud the decisions of the Bishops of Lancaster and Liverpool and I hope that other bishops will also think about giving a church building to their Syro-Malabar community. I would recommend that LMS members keep their eyes open to see if there are any Syro-Malabar services being held in their area and attend them if you can, in my experience the congregations are delighted to see other Catholics joining in their distinctive liturgy. Since we, rightly, attach importance to preserving our historic liturgy we should support the Syro-Malabars and other Eastern Churches as they work to retain their distinctive rites.
Personally having had experience of the specialist Latin Mass Churches in the north west and now the Syro-Malabar Churches, I am a fervent supporter of having specialist churches within dioceses, they have a special vigour and purpose to them which the Church as a whole needs and I hope we will see more of them in future.