Opinion of Angel Maria Perez y Cecilia OCD, Archbishop of Verapoly, Sent to Apostolic Delegate Mooney

Verapoly, (undated, but towards the end of 1927):

After reading the memorandum of Mar Ivanios, Angel Maria Perez y Cecilia OCD, archbishop of Verapoly, expresses a positive opinion about the proposed reunion, but he is contrary to the erection of an independent hierarchy. Some unnecessary parts of this letter are omitted.

I am in the midst of important Jacobite centers, and naturally, this allowed me to observe the change in their dispositions. On the one hand, continuous quarrels of the last sixteen years between the two parties, that of the Patriarch and that of the Metropolitan, and the various judgments of civil courts, now in favor of one, then in favor of the other party, have shaken consciences and induced not a few to consider that above the Patriarch there must be a higher and more firm authority, whose decisions in ecclesiastical matters must be accepted by all true followers of Christ.

On the other hand, the broader education that some of the Jacobite clergy have received or are receiving has opened their minds to new horizons. This and the reading of magazines and newspapers in which there is a lot of talk about the meeting of the Christian Churches (albeit in a rather Protestant sense) and in which the conversations of Malines were reported and discussed, all helped to push a group of Jacobites to think seriously about the possibility and conditions for their reunion with the Catholic Church.

I myself was approached by Jacobites, both priests and laypeople, who asked me questions about it. Among the Jacobites of this tendency, a great influence is exercised especially by one of their bishops. He is a highly educated person; he was for several years a professor in the “Christian College” of Calcutta and is esteemed as a man of broad-mindedness. He is a close friend of Mar Dionysius, the metropolitan excommunicated by the Patriarch. Created bishop about seven or eight years ago, he called his residence with the name of Bethany and erected an orphanage, a convent, and various other institutions in imitation of Catholic institutions. His house is adorned with beautiful Catholic images and his library contains, I am told, many Catholic books. I know that several Catholics have been invited to his home to privately discuss the Jacobite meeting with the Catholic Church, and he often talks about this subject with his friends. It is my impression, as well as the impression of those who have conversed with him on this subject, that he has not so far made his sentiments public only out of consideration for his old friend and patron Mar Dionysius.

I believe that we cannot expect mass conversions (something like an entire diocese) of Jacobites to the Catholic Church if we insist on making them accept the rite, discipline, and jurisdiction of the Syro-Malabar Catholics. The Jacobites, or at least a part of them, believe and hope that the Holy See, in order to ensure the salvation of such a significant number of souls and to bring so many Christians back to Catholic unity, will be content with imposing on them only what is necessary and essential and will consent to their requests in less important matters. In this hope and belief, they will not want to give up having their own Catholic hierarchy in Malabar.

After all, while admitting in theory that it would be better for the Catholic Church in Malabar not to introduce a new rite with a separate hierarchy, which will complicate matters and create confusion and inconvenience, I would prefer that these Jacobites, if they come en masse, that is, something like entire dioceses with their bishops, might be received into the Catholic Church and be united with us in faith and obedience to the Holy See, albeit with a different rite and discipline rather than seeing them excluded and intent on organizing an independent Church, namely independent of Rome and independent of Antioch.

Angel Maria Perez y Cecilia OCD,
Archbishop of Verapoly.