George Matulaitis Journal

I told my secretary about this incident, including how the Reverend Dean Wo=od{ko tried to justify Father Dyakowski. “They are trying to pin the blame on you,” I said to my secretary, “because you did not add a note that the letter was to be read aloud to the people when you sent out the copies.” The secretary [Steckiewicz] replied that everyone else had understood that the letter was to be read aloud and did so. The absence of a note was no excuse. Perhaps there is something else behind all this. Today, Father Dyakowski came to see me in person. He apologized and excused himself, saying that it was the wind or whatever that had blown away the copies of the letter and mixed everything up. I did not want him to continue talking nonsense and getting even more confused, and so I began to question him about other things. He boasted that he was planning to organize a protest against the Bolsheviks who were having a convention. 1 When the Bolsheviks decided to unite Lithuania and Belorussia into a single Soviet Republic, he called the people together and they were determined to protest. They had composed a declaration of protest, and he asked me if he should arrange that this declaration be published abroad. I told him not to do so. The Bolsheviks would then have an excuse to harass the people. In my opinion, he would have done better to stick to Church matters and to stay away from politics. I have heard that this Father Dyakowski comes from a Lithuanian parish and knows the Lithuanian language. When Monsignor Michalkiewicz was administrator of the diocese, he had asked Dyakowski to follow the Lithuanian newspapers and report to him on what was being printed. This little incident is an indication to what extent some of the Vilnius clergy are immersed in politics. And if anyone dares to interfere with their political activities, they simply ignore him, even if it means disobeying their bishop. Here in Vilnius such priests are in the majority. I had been warned previously that if I attempted to administer the Diocese in a Catholic manner, regardless of 209 1 The Lithuanian Communist Party held its second convention in Vilnius on February 24, 1919. As directed by Lenin, it passed a resolution to unite the newly created Soviet Republics of Belorussia and Lithuania. The union was announced on February 27, and the new Republic was called Lit-Bel . This fiction was short-lived, but it was an uncanny omen.