Row over uniform code for Mass rages
The Hindu
Reading of pastoral letter prevented at several parishes, copies also burnt
The controversy over the way the Mass is celebrated in the Catholic Syrian Church took a new turn on Sunday with groups of parishioners at several parishes, including at Holy Family Parish Church at Prasannapuram, near Aluva, preventing the reading of a pastoral letter from Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese and head of the Syro-Malabar Church, and burning copies of the letter. The pastoral letter contained a directive from the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church advising priests and parishioners on celebrating the Mass in a uniform way. The uniform way involves celebrating the Mass with the celebrant (priest) facing the congregation during one half and facing the tabernacle (holy of holies and away from the congregation) during the other half. Priests, parishioners, and the faithful from the Ernakulam-Angamaly, Irinjalakuda, and Thrissur dioceses are among those who have opposed this instruction stridently.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.