Syro Malabar churches told to prevent Sunday weddings

Syro Malabar churches are being advised to not hold marriages before 12 noon due to it disrupting catechism classes for children.

Cardinal George Alencherry, the major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, read out a pastoral letter on Sunday that instructed his parishes to hold off weddings during church hours on the Sabbath day.

The letter, which was read out during the homily, said the pastoral council members of the archdiocese had discussed at large and felt it was affecting catechism classes of children.

Similar instruction was earlier given by the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) which asked the faithful to avoid conducting marriages on Sundays.

The Syro Malabar Church, meanwhile, on Sunday broke with a tradition as Cardinal Mar George Alencherry appeared on telescreens across its parishes in Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese to deliver a pastoral letter.

CDs of the pastoral letter were reportedly delivered in churches by Saturday to enable the video screening of Cardinal giving the recorded message.

"As children give more attention to a televised message, we thought about this," said Fr Paul Thelekat, spokesman of the Church, as reported by Asian Age.

As is the custom, a parish priest often reads out the pastoral letter issued by bishops.