About

Lithuanian National Catholicism is a movement concentrated historically in the Lithuanian diaspora in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. It emphasized the use of the Lithuanian language in worship, music and education; lay ownership of church property; democratic church government; clerical celibacy as optional rather than mandatory; and the use of public confession during the liturgy as well as private confession. Like similar small movements among Slovaks and Italians in the United States, the LNCC affiliated with the Polish National Catholic Church during most of its history.

A distinct and separate Lithuanian National Catholic Church (Lietuvių Katalikų Tautinė Bažnyčia, LKTB) was organized in 1913 in Scranton, Pennsylvania; its only bishop John Gritenas was consecrated in 1924 and served until his death in 1928. The LNCC published a missal in 1931 and other prayer books, periodicals, and educational materials in the Lithuanian language. It sponsored Sunday Schools, choirs, bands, a retirement home, and social welfare organizations for its members.

Lithuanians from the United States made sporadic attempts to establish the LNCC in Lithuania itself from the 1920s onward. The large LNCC parishes in Philadelphia and Lawrence, Massachusetts closed in 1957 and 2002 respectively.

As of 2022 the remaining parish of the LNCC is Providence of God Church in Scranton. It is part of the Polish National Catholic Church's Central Diocese. The parish's 1946 history is online in a large portable document format file:

Lietuvių Katalikų Tautine Bažnyčia, Scrantono Parapija 1913-1949
[PDF, higher resolution version] Digitized in 2022 by Richard Mammana