Sergey Kadinsky
Written Works
Maspeth Church Preserves Lithuanian Rites
October 2008
And then there were two… The Transfiguration Roman Catholic Church is tucked on a midblock slope in Maspeth named after Monsignor Frank Bulovas. Parked on the sidewalk outside the church an Acura license plate reads Siauliai, and a Benz reads Lietuva. That’s the native name for Lithuania, a West Virginia-sized Baltic state represented by the church. With the 2007 closing of Our Lady of Vilnius in the West Village, only Transfiguration and the Annunciation Church in Williamsburg remain as the city’s sole outposts of Lithuanian Catholic traditions.
“There was once a large Lithuanian community in Maspeth,” said Rev. Vytautas Volertas, the church’s parochial vicar. “People would wait outside to get into the crowded church,” recalling its postwar glory days. It was in this milieu that Most Rev. Paul A. Baltakis, 83, arrived to America. Drafted into forced labor by the Nazis in 1944, he found himself in Belgium at the time of liberation. After studying at the Vatican, he led Lithuanian churches in Canada, becoming the bishop for Lithuanian Catholics outside of Lithuania before settling in New York.
After the war, Lithuania was under Soviet rule, but in America, the émigrés kept an active cultural scene with folk dancing, language classes and Lithuanian Catholic masses. Baltakis also maintained ties between the émigrés and the underground church in Lithuania through Radio Free Europe and Radio Vatican broadcasts. “The Lithuanian Catholic Religious Aid organization provided literature for the underground church and radio broadcasts,” said Baltakis. Like the well-known dissidents and refuseniks, many Lithuanians used their cultural traditions to protest against communism.
Outside the church, an ornate wooden monument topped by a crucifix serves as a link to the numerous roadside monuments in Lithuania dating back to the 17th century.
“We built them as a memorial to relatives exiled to Siberia following the Russian conquest,” said Baltakis. The best example is the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai that was continuously bulldozed by the Soviets, and rebuilt by the Lithuanians.
Gradually, even a tightly-knit community spreads afar, as children and retirees leave the neighborhood. Following the restoration of independence, some Lithuanians returned to their homeland, while a “third generation” of newcomers arrived in America. “They came for economic reasons,” said Volertas. “They got their independence, so they certainly weren’t persecuted.”
Unlike their predecessors, they were less inclined to participate in cultural activities. “When I asked them about participating in cultural events, they said that’s not they left Lithuania,” said Volertas.
By 1999, the Diocese of Brooklyn closed the Franciscan-owned Lithuanian Cultural Center in Brooklyn to other group. The city’s only Lithuanian restaurant failed to take off, and the only signs of Lithuanian culture outside the city were small local chapters. Volertas travels to Riverhead once a month to a mixed crowd. “Most say that they’ll make the dollar and return to Lithuania,” said Volertas. “Others have lived here for ten years, professionals with families.”
While he misses the Brooklyn-based cultural center, Baltakis agreed with Cardinal Edward Egan’s decision to close the West Village church. “When the Holland Tunnel was built, people were displaced, and only a small community remained,” said Baltakis. After many years of decline and an expensive repair bill, the church was closed. Vocal demonstrators have vowed to reopen it. “Most of the demonstrators were never from the parish,” said Baltakis.
In contrast, the forecast for Maspeth is optimistic. “Maspeth is 80 percent Catholic, with many Polish, Irish, and Italians,” said Volertas. At this time, Transfiguration continues to hold two Lithuanian services a week with language classes on Saturdays. Maspeth’s churches are not expected to suffer the mergers and closings that affected a number of Catholic churches throughout the city. “This is a quiet neighborhood, very family-oriented,” said Volertas.