Londono lietuvių šv. Kazimiero parapijos struktūrų transformacija 1990–2010 m.

LTŠiame straipsnyje analizuojama Londono lietuvių parapijos tarybos sąveika su marijonų vadovybe, klebonais ir jų padėjėjais. Pirmiausia aptariama krizinė būklė 1990–1999 m., kuomet marijonų gretose buvo ieškoma pamainos klebonui Jonui Sakevičiui. Taip pat susitelkiama į keletą naujojo klebono Petro Tverijono veiklos aspektų – pastangas modernizuoti sakralinę erdvę ir marginalizuoti parapijos tarybos senbuvių įtaką parapijos valdymo srityje. Šių veiksmų rezultatas buvo išskirtinio reiškinio lietuvių išeivijos pasaulyje – šimtmetį gyvavusios Londono lietuvių parapijos savivaldos likvidavimas. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Katalikų Bažnyčia; Londono lietuvių parapija; Londono lietuvių šv. Kazimiero parapija; Marijonų kongregacija; Parapijos savivalda; Catholic Church; Lithuanian community in London; Lithuanian parish in London; Marian Congregation; Parish administration; Parish self-rule.

ENThe essential part of this article is a reconstruction of the conflict that occurred from 2003 to 2005 in London between the Lithuanian rector and the parish council. It illustrates the practices of controlling the laity that Roman Catholic priests and hierarchs were used to. It is a case study in which a Lithuanian matter is used to illustrate global processes. In the 1990s the Lithuanian Catholic community in London found itself in crisis. Its major components were the inability of the Marian Fathers to find a suitable replacement for Father Jonas Sakevičius, his failure to attract the newest Lithuanian immigrants to participation in religious life, and the self-isolation of the parish council in just the old-timers’ portion of the community. Father Petras Tverijonas, who in 1999 by chance became the new Lithuanian parish rector, immediately connected with the new immigrants and began a new program of activities drawing them into church life. For several years he adhered to the centuries-old traditional agreement between church rector and parish lay council whereby the rector’s new initiatives needed the approval of the lay leadership. Seeking to gain greater influence with them, he managed to refresh the council’s make-up by having younger new immigrants admitted as members.Differences in age and mentality led to distrust and conflict. Tensions erupted in 2003, when the parish council’s old-timers protested against having the church hold concerts and performances for children. The elderly part of the council also rejected a plan for renewing the church’s interior, calling it an attack on the symbiosis of nationality and religion. These were the two main elements of a conflict that lasted for several years. During it, actions on both sides became more radical and support in the higher church hierarchy was sought. As a result the Westminster superiors “discovered” that the governance of the Lithuanian parish did not correspond to the established practice according to which lay people could not have any voice in handling parish affairs. Thus in February of 2005 these superiors supported Father Tverijonas’s wish to be rid of an opposition and disbanded the parish council. In its place, a finance committee consisting of carefully chosen persons was founded and given only an advisory role. The conflict revealed that the absolute majoruty of new Lithuanian immigrants whose Catholic consciousness was poorly developed just passively approved of the rector’s initiatives. A church space fostered for several generations and suffused with patriotic sentiments was of little value to them. The tradition of parish self-rule had little meaning for them. And for the old-timers who now found themselves on the margins of parish life, the social inertia of most of the new parishioners and the collective actions of rector and bishops created a situation in which the end of self-rule came across as the renunciation of something already dead. [From the publication]

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