Lithuanians Need More Vatican Help

LONDON (NC) — The Vatican’s diplomatic maneuvers in behalf of the Church in Lithuania ignore problems confronting Lithuanian Catholics at the parish level, according to the Rev. Michael Bourdeaux, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Communism in nearby Keston.

As a result, Mr. Bourdeaux said, Lithuanian Catholics have taken up their own cause by publishing the Chronicles of the Lithuanian Catholic Church “to report on East-West relations in depth and their own situation in particular with the hope that the Vatican will take it up.»

They believe, he said, that Vatican diplomats have turned their backs to the difficulties faced by Soviet Catholics. “The Catholics in Lithuania are asking for some very special things and none of these things is being catered for in the present detente situation,» Mr. Bourdeaux said.

The Protestant clergyman added: “They became aware that they weren’t going to get Rome stepping in to help them in the way they hoped and prayed for years and years and years.»

Mr. Boudeaux said he sees “a tendency in Vatican official negotiations to allow the East to dictate the agenda.» As a result, the negotiations are restricted to “such questions as the consecration of bishops and the formal organization of Church life.»

He continued: “Many questions concerning the people at the parish level — such as the rights of Eastern Catholics to belong to the Church of Rome if they wish — are not being discussed.»

To patch what he sees as a rift between the Vatican and rank-and-file Catholics in the Soviet Union, Mr. Bourdeaux suggests the Vatican make attempts to:

• Keep Lithuanians in the United States and the Ukrainians in Canada fully informed on discussions with the Soviet government;
• Tap the views of Eastern Europeans living abroad, especially in Rome.
• Bolster cooperation between the Vatican’s Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and the Secretariat for Unbelievers.
• Improve its broadcasting to Eastern Europe. Christians in East Europe appear to be “very unhappy» with the quality of Vatican Radio broadcasts, complaining that they are boring and full of bureaucratic jargon, Mr. Bourdeaux said.
• Include information culled from the Chronicles in negotiations with Soviet officials.

“No one is saying — least of all the Lithuanians — that the Pope should lead a holy war against communism,» Mr. Bourdeaux said. “What they are saying is that the Vatican should give a lead in saying that Christians in the Soviet Union are a dear and valued part of the whole Church.

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