Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Lithuania ( lit. Lietuvos Vyskupų Konferencija ) - Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Lithuania . It consists of 9 people: 2 archbishop - Metropolitan , 4 bishops and 3 vicar bishops . The Lithuanian Conference of Catholic Bishops is a full member of the Council of Conferences of Catholic Bishops of Europe.
The conference of the Catholic bishops of Lithuania was first mentioned in Annuario Pontificio in 1971 [1] . Its first president was Bishop Juozas Matulaitis Labukas , after whose death in 1979 the conference was headed by Ludvikas Povilonis . Later, the conference was led by Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevičius , Cardinal Audris Juozas Bachkis and Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevičius . Since 2015, the conference has been led by Gintaras Grushas . In conditions of limited freedom of the Catholic Church in the USSR during the period 1971-1988, the conference dealt mainly with liturgical issues, in particular, the conference approved new editions of the New Testament and Missal . After the independence of Lithuania, the activities of the commission expanded significantly [1] .
Content
List of Chairs
- Juozas Matulaitis-Labukas (1971-1979)
- Ludvikas Povilonis (1979-1988)
- Vincentas Sladkevičius (1988-1993)
- Audris Juozas Bachkis (1993-1999)
- Sigitas Tamkevicius (1999-2002)
- Audris Juozas Bachkis (2002-2005)
- Sigitas Tamkevicius (2005-2014)
- Gintaras Grushas (2014 - present) [2]
Conference composition for 2016
- Gintaras Grushas , President, Archbishop Metropolitan of Vilnius ;
- Lönginas Virbalas , Vice President, Archbishop Metropolitan of Kaunas ;
- Rimantas Norville , Bishop of Vilkaviskis ;
- Eugenius Bartulis , Bishop of Šiauliai ;
- Jonas Boruta , Bishop of Telsiaia ;
- Jonas Ivanauskas , Bishop of Kaisiadorys ;
- Gennady Linas Vodopianovas , Bishop of Panevezys ;
- Kestutis Kevalas , vicar of Bishop of Kaunas ;
- Arunas Poniskaitis , vicar bishop of Vilnius [3] .
The Secretary General of the Conference is Priest Kestutis Smilgevičius. According to the data for 2015, the Catholic Church of Lithuania also has six Emerit bishops, that is, bishops who have resigned from the department according to their age and health status - Cardinal Audris Juozas Bachkis , Bishop Emeritus of Kaunas Sigitas Tamkevičius , Bishop Emmer Panevezys Jonas Kaunas , - Kaisiadorys oumeriz Juomezas Matulaitis , Bishop эmeret Panevezys Juozas Preikšas and Bishop меmeret Vilkaviskis Juozas емemaitis . Emerites are not members of the conference, but can take part in the work of commissions, committees and councils and have the right of an advisory vote [3] .
Structure
The supreme body of the conference is the plenary session, convened periodically, and in which all members of the conference must participate. The plenary session is authorized to solve major problems, for example, to elect a new president.
The Permanent Council at the Conference of Catholic Bishops is a permanent body of the conference between plenary sessions. It consists of three people: the president, vice president and another bishop elected at the last plenary session. Under the data for 2015, the permanent council includes Gintaras Grushas, Lönginas Virbalas and Rimantas Norvila.
The structural units of the conference are commissions, councils and committees. Commissions are the most important permanent structures, which necessarily include several bishops; councils and committees are usually headed by one bishop who offers or appoints other members from among priests or laity. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Lithuania has three commissions: on education, social communication and liturgical issues; six councils - on ecumenical activities, on family affairs, on youth affairs, on the laity apostolate, on media relations, on social issues and several committees [4] .