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Issued since 1972.
Dedicated to the Friends of the Eucharist on their 10th anniversary.
CHRONICLE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LITHUANIA No. 39
In this issue:
The Holy Father's Visit to Poland
The Commissioner for Religious Affairs Affairs Meets with the Deans
Anilionis Instructs the Ordinaries
Tenth Anniversary of the Friends of the Eucharist
The Catholic Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Believers
Regarding Letters to Our Bishops and Administrators
The Godless Elect a Parish Committee
What Do You Know About the Chronicle?
The Church in Soviet Republics
From the Archives of the Chronicle of the Catholic Church inLithuania
Lithuania .......................................... July 22, 1979
CHRONICLE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LITHUANIA No. 39
A Translation or the Complete Lithuanian Original, LIETUVOS KATALIKŲ BAŽNYČIOS KRONIKA Nr. 39 Documenting the Struggle for Human Rights In Soviet-Occupied Lithuania Today
Translated hy: Vita Matusaitis Translation Editor: Rev. Casimir Pugevičius Published by the Lithuanian R.C. Priests' League of America 351 Highland Blvd. Brooklyn, NY 11207
©Lithuanian Roman Catholic Priests' League of America 1980
Franciscan Fathers Press 341 Highland Blvd. Brooklyn, NY 11207
COVER: Danutė Kelmelienė after a beating by militia in Soviet-occupied Lithuania July, 1979. Sec page 46.
CHRONICLE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LITHUANIA No. 39
Introduction
In 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania by force, 85.5% of the country's more than 3 million inhabitants were Roman Catholic, 4.5% Protestant, 7.3% Jewish, 2.5% Orthodox and 0.2% of other persuasions.
In the two archdioceses and four dioceses were: 708 churches, 314 chapels, 73 monasteries, 85 convents, three archbishops, nine bishops, 1271 diocesan priests, 580 monks, of whom 168 were priests. Four seminaries had 470 students. There were 950 nuns.
Nuns cared for 35 kindergartens, 10 orphanages, 25 homes for the aged, two hospitals, a youth center, and an institute for the deaf-mute.
On June 15, 1940, the Red Army marched into Lithuania; the independent government was replaced by a puppet regime.
On July 14-15, rigged elections were staged. On July 21, with the Red Army surrounding the assembly house, the new People's Diet "unanimously" declared Lithuania a Soviet Socialist Republic.
On June 25, 1940, the Church was declared separate from the state, and the representative of the Holy See was expelled.
Parish lands were confiscated, clergy salaries and pensions were cut off, and their savings confiscated. Churches were deprived of support. Catholic printing plants were confiscated, and religious books destroyed.
On June 28, 1940, the teaching of religion and recitation of prayers in schools was forbidden. The University's Department of Theology and Philosophy was abolished, and all private schools were nationalized. The seminaries at Vilkaviškis and Telšiai were closed, and the seminary at Kaunas was permitted to operate on a very limited scale. The clergy were spied upon constantly.
On June 15, 1941, 34,260 Lithuanians were packed off in cattle cars to undisclosed points in the Soviet Union. After World War II, the mass deportations resumed and continued until 1953.
Vincentas Borisevičius, Bishop of Telšiai, was arrested on February 3, 1946, and condemned to death after a secret trial. Before year's end, his auxiliary, Bishop Pranas Ramanauskas, was also arrested and deported to Siberia. Bishop Teofilius Matulionis of Kaišiadorys and Archbishop Mečislovas Reinys of Vilnius were deported to a Siberian labor camp. Archbishop Reinys perished in prison at Vladimir, November 8, 1953. By 1947, Lithuania was left with a single bishop, Kazimieras Paltarokas, of Panevėžys. He died in 1958.
In 1947, the last convents and monasteries were closed, their communities dispersed, and all monastic institutions were outlawed.
After Stalin's death in 1953, there was a slight improvement in the religious situation. Bishop Matulionis and Ramanauskas were allowed to return to Lithuania, but not to minister to their dioceses or to communicate with the clergy or laity.
Bishop Ramanauskas died in 1959, and Archbishop Matulionis in 1963.
In 1955, two new bishops were appointed by Rome and consecrated: Julijonas Steponavičius and Petras Maželis. Steponavičius has never been permitted to administer his diocese.
Bishop Vincentas Sladkevičius, consecrated in 1957, is also under severe government restrictions. In 1965, Monsignor Juozas Labukas-Matulaitis was consecrated in Rome to head the Archdiocese of Kaunas and the Diocese of Vilkaviškis.
Relaxation of pressure on religious believers soon revealed that the Lithuanian people were still deeply religious. It was decided in the mid-fifties to resume the attack. The principal means of attack would be unlimited moral pressure, since physical terror seemed only to strengthen and unify the faithful.
In 1972, the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania, clandestinely published in that country, began to reach the free world at irregular intervals. Primarily intended to keep Catholics in Lithuania informed of the situation of the Church there, these Lithuaniansamizdat also serve as a constant appeal to the free world not to forget the plight of a people struggling against overwhelming odds to defend {heir religious beliefs and to regain their basic human rights.
Rev. Casimir Pugevičius Translation Editor
NAMES OF PERSONS
Aliulis, Rev. V. 24
Ambrožas, Valius 72
Andriušaitis, 77
Anilionis, Petras 10, 15, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, 64, 65, 66
Andrijauskas, 37
Andrikonis, Rev. 22
Andriusevičius, 72-73
Aničas, J. 34
Arusaar, V. 30
Arčulis, 65
Babrauskas, Rev. 23, 24
Bajorūnienė, J. 73
Balaišis, Rev. Antanas 63-64
Balčiūnaitė, Vida 74
Barauskas, Bishop. A. 18
Barkauskas, Rev. Balys 15
Barzdonis, 73
Baublys, 42, 43, 47
Baumann, Michaela, 29
Beinoris, Rev. 11, 14
Belickaitė, Vaida, 72
Bitinaitė, (Miss) T. 5, 6, 7
Bogorazh, 77
Boleslaw, II, King 40
Borisevičius, Vishop Vincentas 2
Brazdeikytė, Laima 69
Bubliauskaitė, Rita 37
Budrikis, Rev. Julius 12
Buožius, Rev. Mykolas 16,17,24
Buzaitė, (Miss) 47
Buzis, 52
Česnavičius, A. 4
Chanko, Rev. Antonij 75
Chodygo, Rev. Stanislov Čiurlionis, 47
Dauskantas, 55
Deltuva, Rev. Albinas 66 Dėmenis, 63
Dobrovolskis, Rev. Mykolas 16
Drasiukevičius, 43
Dovydaitis, Rev. Gvidonas 20,64
Dumbraitė, 51
Enzenienė, (Mrs.) 52
Fabijanskas, Rev. Jonas 16
Gaščiūnas, Rev. Kazimieras 14, 24
Gajauskas, Balys 78
Garjonis, Rev. 12
Garuckas, S.J., Rev. Karolis 13, 20
Gedvilą, Rev. Juozas 15
Geraitė, 55
Giedraitis, Rev. Juozapas 72
Gintvainytė, Valė, 69, 70
Grakauskas, A. 45
Grauslys, Rev. 12
Graževičius, 47
Grebliauskienė, Angelė 44
Griškevičius, P. 41, 60
Gudanavičius, Rev. Gustavas 19
Iseried, M. 30
Ivaškevičius, 68, 69
Jauras, Rev. Bronius 47
Jokubauskas Rev. Antanas 12,66-7
Juozėnas, 15, 26, 27
Jurgutis, Martynas 69
Juzytė, Rima 68, 69
Karkienė, (Mrs.) 52
Kanapeckas, Vytautas 68
Karnauskas, J. 49-50, 51
Karnishova 37
Kauneckas, Rev. Jonas, 11, 24, 31, 36, 38, 64-65
Kavaliukas, VI. 59
Kaušakys, Jonas 72
Kavaliauskas, Rev. Č . 32
Kelmelienė, Dana 46
Klinga, Petras 71
Kovalev, Sergei 78
Kozlovskį, Rev. 75
Kalnius, Sigitas 73
Košukauskas, 36
Kražauskas, Rev. Petras 22
Krikščiūnas, Bishop Romualdas 22, 24, 26
Kulikauskas, 43
Kunevičius, Rev. 16
Kuolelis, J. 7-10
Kuprelis, 55
Kurys, P. 6, 7
Kvekštienė, A. 50, 51
Labanauskas, 48
Labukas, Bishop Juozas 2,36
Lapienis, Vladas 78
Laurinavičius, Rev. Bronius 12
Leščiauskas, Saulius 72
Lidys, Rev. Stasys 27
Limantas, 70
Lipeikaitė, Danutė 60
Liukas, Rev. R. 42
Liutkienė, (Mrs.) 53
Lotuzas, Arvydas 73
Markevičiūtė, (Miss) 72
Matulevičius, 60-62
Matulionis, Bishop Teofilius 2,27
Mažeika 37
Maželis, Bishop Petras 2
Mažrimaitė, Lina 69
Mažrimas, Dr. 15
Mažutavičius, Stasys 54
Mickevičius, 47
Milašius, St. 52, 56
Mileris, Rev. 15
Miežanskienė, Janina 68
Miškinis, Rev. 12
Mišutis, P. 34
Močius, Rev. Algirdas Moteikienė, V. 63
Motiekaitienė 74
Motiekaitis, 73
Muller, Ludwig 41
Mikulevičienė, Eugenija 43,44
Našlėnas, Rev. Petras 23
Neniškienė, 69-70
Nevardauskaitė (Miss) Stasė 60-62
Norkus, V. 63
Nykštas,, Rev. Petras 12
Paliukaitis, Rev. 12
Palšis, Rev. 14
Paltarokas, Bishop Kazimieras 2
Papievienė, Teresė 55-56
Paulaitis, Petras 27-28, 78
Petkus, Viktoras 78
Petraitytė, Vilma 73
Petraitytė (Miss) 37
Petrašonytė, 72
Petrauskas, Ričardas 43, 44
Petravičius, Rev. 75
Pilipavičienė, (Mrs.) 37
Plumpa, Petras 78
Povilonis, Bishop Liudas 22, 23, 25, 27, 66
Pronichev 65
Pudžemis, Rev. 12
Pūkėnas, Rev. K. 24
Pulkauninkaitė, Rasa 68, 69
Puzaras, Rev. 25
Račkauskaitė, Stefa 70-71
Ramanauskas, Bishop Pranas 2, 26
Rasiukevičius 43, 43
Raudonytė, Stasė 72
Razma, 74
Razvinavičius, Aleksandras 45-47
Reinys, Bishop Mečislovas 2
Riaukaitė, (Miss) J. 53
Roginov 68, 69
Sabaliauskaitė, 74
Sadūnaitė, Nijolė 28-30, 78
Sadūnas, Jonas 29
Šapokas, Rev. Leonas 73
Šapranauskas Savičius, V. 49-57
Selvenis 52
Semenauskas, Vitalijus 37
Šeškevičius, Rev. Antanas 49-57
Šimutis, Liudas 62, 78 Šyvokas 63
Sladkevičius, Bishop Vincentas 2, 36, 47
Slančiauskienė, 67
Šlepetys, 63
Šlimaitė, Birutė 69
Slipij, Cardinal 26
Sniečkus 53
Stanelytė, Laima 74
Stanelytė, Zita 74
Starkus, V. 73
Steponavičius, Bishop Julijonas, 2, 36, 47, 66
Stimpfle, Bishop Josef 29
Stirbys, Rev. Vaclovas 20
Stonkus, Saulius 37
Stranka, A. 52
Sudavičiūtė (Miss) Teresė 65
Svarinskas, Rev. Alfonsas. 12, 23, 24, 26, 31, 36, 38, 60, 61, 62
Švedaravičius, 42, 43
Tamkevičius, Rev. Sigitas 16, 21, 23, 31, 36, 38, 45-47
Tamulevičius 47
Tėvelis, 62
Urbonas, 63
Vainius, L. 55
Valaitis, Rev. 14
Valančius, Bishop Motiejus 39
Vaičius, Rev. Antanas 23
Vanagas 41
Varžinskaitė, Rima 68, 69
Vaškevičienė, Z. 74
Vėbra, P. 41
Vėlavičius, Rev. Vincas 36,38
Vilniutė, Vida 69
Wysinski, Cardinal Stefan26
Zavalniuk, Rev. 76
Zdebskis,Rev. 13,16,36,38
Žeimantas 60
Želvienė, (Mrs.) Irena 37
Želvius, Egidijus 37
Želvys, Romas 72
Žibūda, Romas 59, 60
Žilinskas, Antanas 44
Žilinskienė, Janina 44
Žilys, Rev. Kazimieras 76
NAMES OF PLACES
Gargždai, 57
Kapsukas, 66
Kaunas, 62,
Kybartai, 66
Luokė, 72
Pasvalys, 67
Pociūnėliai, 66
Prienai, 63
Saločiai, 63
Salos, 66
Skapiškis, 72
Telšiai, 64
Vabalninkas, 70
Varėna, 17
Varputėnai, 66
Vilnius, 67
Višakio Ruda, 64
Žemaičių Kalvarija, 69
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Places mentioned in the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania No. 39
