Professor – on the latest decision of the Church: it is a rare phenomenon in the world of power

Professor at the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University Vytautas Ališauskas in the program Delphi Day says he welcomes the latest decision of the Church.

“In the world of politics, in the world of power, changing your mind and saying that we don’t evaluate everything at first is a rare phenomenon. In this case, the Episcopal Conference of Lithuania set an excellent example of listening. It was recognized that the decision was a bit hasty, who listened to Professor Stankūnas’ comment, Sėjonienė’s comments, we see that the situation is not clear, it is easy to give in to optimism or catastrophic thinking, ”says the professor.

According to him, it is important that the government and the Church find a common understanding.

“I think there was some cooperation and exchange of views here, otherwise it is difficult to imagine the situation. Perhaps the initial decision was trapped in optimism, and otherwise it is an old tradition in Lithuania since the independence dialogue between the Church and the government, it always took place and I hope it happens. You know, Lithuania is a secular state, probably not everyone would like the state and the Church to coordinate too closely. I think a lot of my friends Facebook are outraged, ”says the professor.

When asked how the public would react to such a decision, the interlocutor considered that there would not be a single opinion, but was unpleasantly surprised that the believers felt offended.

“One part of society is practicing Catholic, another part considers Catholicism a large part of their identity, and another part looks at the Church from a very remote point of view. Another aspect that worries me the most is that I have seen a lot of insult to believers, contempt for their practices, saying that this is the same as going to the movies. People should think about it, after all, we are all fellow citizens of a state, hate speech must be protected not only by the Church, but also by those who are secular, ”says the professor.

G. Grušas stated that the initial decision on the renewal of services was taken at the end of 2020.

“At the end of the year, we expected to be able to return to the order that was in our churches during the quarantine until December 16 of last year, when a limited number of people attended services in accordance with the necessary security requirements,” he said.

However, the beginning of the new year has shown that the pandemic situation in Lithuania remains quite dire. The stricter restrictions adopted by the government, initially limited to the festive period, have been extended until the planned end of the quarantine, “added the archbishop.

According to him, it has been decided not to renew the Mass until the end of January, but if there were more significant positive epidemiological changes, the services could be renewed earlier.

“In this way, we stand in solidarity with all those for whom this moment is extremely difficult, especially with patients, doctors and nurses,” said G. Grušas.

He also noted that the decision not to renew St. A large number of these were made in consultation with government and medical experts.

On Tuesday, the Lithuanian bishops announced that services would resume from next Monday, January 11, limiting the number of believers in them.

This decision sparked public debate and criticism.

Lithuania has a stricter quarantine regime until January 31. He closed many stores, hairdressers, restricted the movement of people and meetings.