George Matulaitis Journal

enough to write to His Excellency Bishop Szel '? ek 1 in Warsaw and send him a copy of the regulations. The head of the village of Bielsk has appealed to me to urge the priests voluntarily to give the required amount of grain to the government. I had heard that the priests there had agreed to pay government taxes. As for the grain, some of the priests decided to give the government the required amount; others did not. We decided to forward this matter to His Excellency Bishop Szel '? ek so that he and the Bishops’ Conference would decide what we should do in such cases in order to remain consistent. Under previous governments the priests had been exempt from placing unnecessary burdens on the Church. I consulted with the Chapter, or rather, listened to its advice on the appointment of ecclesiastical judges, procurators, and advisors. It has not been possible to set up a full chancery as yet, because it is difficult to get in touch and make arrangements with the priests. We made some decisions about the Giedraiciai 2 case. I proposed that a three-day retreat be conducted there and those who are at fault be obliged to attend it and, in addition, that they be required to fast one Friday. Since only those who consider themselves Poles are at fault, the retreat should be given in Polish. I am going to appoint Father Gumbaragis 3 of Suzoniai pastor of Giedraiciai. The Chapter agreed to this, but they did not want Father Vaitkevi ius to go there to conduct the retreat because they regard him as a party man. The Franciscan Father Haula will go there after the feast of the Epiphany. The Giedraiciai case is in the chancery records, but, of course, the whole story is not set down. The Polish delegation from Giedraiciai came to see me three times. The first time they demanded that I abolish the Lithuanian language from the church and remove the 281 1 Adolf Szel '? ek was the representative of the Polish bishops in matters dealing with the civil authorities. 2 A town in eastern Lithuania, 45 km north of Vilnius, named after a Lithuanian noble family who had a large estate there. Bishop Arnulfas Giedraitis had built the church of St. Bartholomew in 1809 that was still in use as the parish church. The people were of mixed nationalities—Lithuanian, Polish and Belorussian—and the town had a history of ethnic unrest. Separate church services were provided in Polish and in Lithuanian. In 1919, nationalistic feuds broke out again and led to rioting in the church. 3 Karolis Gumbaragis (1885-1958): a Lithuanian priest who had studied at the Vilnius Seminary and was ordained in 1910. He had been pastor in various Lithuanian parishes.