The Archbishop of Vilnius believes that Lithuaniahas a “big message” for the world.
Amazingly enough Archbishop Gintaras Grušas ((pronounced “Grushas”) was born in Washington, D.C., in 1961, to a family of Lithuanian origin. He spent the first half of his life in the United States, becoming heavily involved in Lithuanian Catholic organizations.
He was active at the Lithuanian parish of St. Casimir in Los Angeles and with the Catholic Ateitis Federation, as well as serving as head of the World Lithuanian Youth Association from 1983 to 1987.
He studied mathematics and information technology at UCLA, before working at IBM.
“I’m very thankful for my American experience and all that it gave me. I’m also very thankful for my Lithuanian heritage and roots. And I think it’s a blessing to have the mix. They’re actually quite different views of the world,” he said.
“My first language, however, was Lithuanian. When I was born, my mother didn’t speak English, so it was my mother tongue in a very strict sense. So I’m very much both (Lithuanian and American). I think on two channels.”
Feeling called to the priesthood, he read theology at the FranciscanUniversity in Steubenville, Ohio. He then studied for two years at Rome’s PontificalBedaCollege, adding Italian to his three other languages: English, Lithuanian, and French.
The archbishop of the country’s capital, Vilnius, points out that the city witnessed one of the most momentous events in 20th-century Catholic history, for it was there that the Polish nun St. Faustina Kowalska experienced many of the visions of Jesus that she recorded in her Diary.
The city contains the original Divine Mercy image, the only one that St. Faustina saw before her death in 1938 at the age of 33.
“The convent where St. Faustina lived and saw the revelations is still open. It’s a convent, but it’s also a pilgrimage site. The four cities that are associated with St. Faustina -- Warsaw, Kraków, Płock, and Vilnius -- were given the mandate during her canonization by St. John Paul II to carry the banner of Divine Mercy out to the world. So, as the bishop of Vilnius, I have that mandate as well.”
“This is a time with the pandemic. Praying for God’s mercy is ever so much important. Also works of mercy towards our neighbors: that is a message that Pope Francis repeats very often and reminds us of.”
(Image: Stephen Whatley)
