How You Can Help Save America's Lithuanian Parishes
Evergreen ways to share research, document history, and support parish communities.
This page is evergreen. For urgent deadlines and parish-specific requests, use the pinned Active Campaigns page. This page explains how to support the longer work of preserving America’s Lithuanian Catholic parishes - our parapijos - wherever they are.
Our foundation is older than this project. In the 19th century, Bishop Motiejus Valančius strengthened a Catholic network of priests, parishes, parish schools, temperance societies, and Lithuanian books that helped sustain maldą, kalbą ir tautą - prayer, language, and a people. America’s Lithuanian parishes are part of that same inheritance.
Start with the current campaigns
When a parish is under immediate threat, time matters. Visit the pinned Active Campaigns page first. That page lists current deadlines, fundraising needs, parish-specific links, and the most useful actions to take now.
Tell us your parish story
If your parish has a story, a threat, a hidden archive, or a memory that should not disappear, send it to us. We are looking for parish histories, photographs, bulletins, anniversary books, choir programs, school records, closure notices, canonical documents, and personal testimony.
You can also help lightly. Send one photograph. Forward one bulletin. Correct one date. Name one person we should interview. Tell us what is happening locally. Small pieces make the larger record possible.
Email info@saveourlithuanianparishes.org or use the parish report form.
Share the research
Most people do not know how many Lithuanian parishes have already closed, how parish ownership affects survival, or how canon law treats personal and ethnic parishes. Sharing sourced research is one of the simplest ways to make the issue harder to ignore.
You can help by:
Forwarding articles to parishioners, family members, clergy, journalists, and Lithuanian organizations.
Posting specific articles rather than general slogans.
Sharing the parish map and record at SaveOurLithuanianParishes.org.
Helping people understand that a parish is more than real estate. It is a Catholic community, a historical archive, and a place where faith, language, and memory are passed on.
Useful starting points
Contribute records and history
Every Lithuanian parish has a paper trail. Much of it is still in basements, boxes, family albums, anniversary books, choir folders, school programs, and parish halls. Those materials can disappear quickly when a parish closes.
We are especially looking for:
Parish anniversary books and histories.
Bulletins, newsletters, directories, and financial reports.
Photographs of churches, schools, choirs, processions, youth groups, cemeteries, and parish events.
Documents about parish founding, ownership, closure, merger, suppression, sale, or demolition.
Oral histories from parishioners, clergy, teachers, choir members, scouts, and community leaders.
Lithuanian-language materials that need translation or identification.
If you send documents, include whatever context you know: parish name, city, date, people pictured, source, and whether the material may be quoted or published.
Report what is happening at your parish
If a Lithuanian parish is facing a survey, listening session, merger, restructuring, closure, sale, property discussion, Mass reduction, loss of Lithuanian language, loss of Lithuanian identity, or uncertainty about its future, report it early. Send the document or public link before the deadline passes. The best time to document a parish is before the closure letter arrives.
Volunteer your skills
This work needs more than writers. It needs people who can help with research, translation, data, legal context, photography, local reporting, technology, and outreach.
Useful skills include:
Lithuanian-English translation.
Archival research and source checking.
Data entry and spreadsheet review.
Canon law or civil nonprofit/property law background.
Local photography and document scanning.
Writing, editing, media outreach, and letters to the editor.
Web, mapping, database, and design help.
Support parish communities directly
When a parish is actively organizing, use official parish links or verified community campaigns. Donate when you can, but do not underestimate smaller actions: one forwarded article, one phone call, one letter, one scanned anniversary book, or one corrected fact can help.
Share verified fundraisers and petitions using the exact campaign link and the source date. Avoid screenshots when a live link exists, because a direct link lets people donate, sign, and verify the campaign themselves.
Contact local media when a parish has a current threat. A short, factual note with one photograph, one date, one local contact, and one source link is often enough to help a reporter start.
If you belong to a Lithuanian organization, parish council, foundation, school, camp, choir, scout group, or alumni network, ask what your group can do publicly and concretely.
Speak with discipline and faith
This publication is not a campaign against the Church. It documents, cites, and advocates inside the system, by the Church’s own rules. The strongest advocacy is factual, Catholic, and serious.
A good message usually does four things:
Leads with faith and sacramental life.
Explains the parish’s Lithuanian mission clearly.
Uses specific facts, dates, and documents.
Avoids personal attacks and keeps the door open for a just outcome.
Stay connected
Subscribe for new research, closure alerts, parish histories, and campaign updates. Send questions, stories, documents, or corrections to info@saveourlithuanianparishes.org.
Together, we can help ensure that this story does not end with our generation.