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Compendium of the Thought of Vatican II and Lithuanians in the Council

įrašus pieše Paulius Jurkus; Kalbą tikrino Juozas Vaišnys, S.J. ir Petras Balčiūnas; Prel. Pranciškaus M. Juro, P.A. lėšomis

1982

Introduction

This 1982 diaspora volume by Bishop Vincentas Brizgys summarizes the theological teachings of the Second Vatican Council and documents the participation of Lithuanian Catholic bishops and clergy in that historic ecumenical gathering. Published by the Lithuanian Catholic diaspora press in Putnam, Connecticut, it bridges universal Church renewal with the particular experience of a displaced Lithuanian Catholic community. The work stands as a significant record of Lithuanian Catholic intellectual and ecclesiastical life in exile.

Community and publication context

Community and publication setting

Publication setting
Diaspora
Publication period
1981–1990
Denomination
Roman Catholic
Religious tradition
  • Roman Catholic
Institution type
  • Religious order
  • Press
  • Lay organization
Community or institution
Krikščionis Gyvenime; N. Pr. Marijos Seserys, I.C.C., Putnam, CT
Institutional role
Publication and printing of Lithuanian Catholic diaspora theological literature.

Context and significance

Significance

Bishop Vincentas Brizgys was one of the most prominent Lithuanian Catholic bishops in exile, having fled Soviet occupation and continuing his episcopal ministry in the diaspora. This volume represents the intersection of universal Catholic renewal — Vatican II — with the particular suffering and persistence of the Lithuanian Catholic community under Soviet rule. By documenting Lithuanian episcopal participation in the Council, Brizgys asserts the continued canonical and spiritual existence of the Lithuanian Church despite occupation and suppression.

For the Lithuanian diaspora, works like this served simultaneously as theological formation, cultural affirmation, and acts of ecclesiastical resistance. Published in 1982, at a moment when the underground Catholic resistance in Soviet Lithuania (as documented in the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania) was at its height, this compendium connected diaspora Lithuanians to the global Church while keeping alive the memory of Lithuania's Catholic hierarchy and its rightful place in Rome. It is a document of both faith and nationhood.

How this record carried memory

Diaspora Catholic publishing network (Krikščionis Gyvenime, N. Pr. Marijos Seserys press) maintaining Lithuanian Catholic theological and ecclesiastical identity in exile.

Record connections

People, places, and institutions linked in the catalog

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