Galimybės mažinti valstiečių liaudininkų ir Katalikų Bažnyčios priešpriešą Lietuvoje 1918–1926 m ; The possibilities of reducing the opposition between the Peasant Populists and the Church in Lithuania during 1918–1926

Abstract

The aim of the article is to discuss the possibilities of reducing the opposition between the Peasant Populists and the Church that have existed in parliamentary Lithuania during 1918–1926. To reach this aim the following objectives have been set: first, to reveal some aspects of political activities of the official Catholic Church and clergy which might have weakened the disagreement between the Catholic Church and the Peasant Populists; second, to present some problems of internal life of the clergy and clashes between the Catholic Church and laymen; finally, to reveal that there were possibilities to reduce the opposition not only in the activities of the official Catholic Church, but also the Peasant Populists. The research is based on the following sources: most information is gathered from the newspaper for the clergy "Ganytojas", Catholic newspaper "Žvaigždė" and the newspaper of the Peasant Populists "Lietuvos žinios". The documents of the Lithuanian State Historical Archives (stock 1671) are very important source for this article as well. The analysis has revealed that, on the one hand, the attitude of the Catholic Church towards political parties of parliamentary Lithuania (except Christian Democrats) was visibly negative. On the other hand, in public life official Catholic Church and its press tried to avoid open criticism of the political parties. Leader of various Catholic organisations, editor of "Ganytojas", Mykolas Vaitkus, though being an active participant in political processes, was able to critically evaluate problems inside the clergy. He acknowledged that "Lietuvos žinios" was an influential paper, despite the fact that it often criticized the institutional Church and priests. Some articles from this newspaper were favourably evaluated by M. Vaitkus in his reviews in "Ganytojas". [.]