page_title: Lithuanian National Catholic Church
section_title: Scranton, PA
hierarchical_section_title: Lithuanian National Catholic Church / Parishes / Scranton, PA
caption_attribution_description: English: Lithuania National Catholic Church, Scranton, PA
context_page_description: The Lithuanian National Catholic Church or LNCC was a small American denomination organized in 1914 by dissident Roman Catholic Lithuanian Americans mainly in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Massachusetts. It was also known as the independent Lithuanian church as it rejected the papal authority. It was closely affiliated with the Polish National Catholic Church. The Church established several parishes, but most of them were short lived. The most successful parishes were in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Lawrence, Massachusetts. John Gritenas was consecrated on August 17, 1924, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as this church's only bishop. Due to lack of archival sources, available information about the church and its parishes is fragmentary, incomplete, and often contradictory.
context_section_description: Lithuanians in Scranton, Pennsylvania, feuded with their priest of the St. Joseph parish and Bishop of Scranton since 1895. In 1910, when a court decided that the church and other parish property was in a trust and not outright owned by the bishop, the bishop excommunicated the parish committee and closed the Church of St. Joseph. The LNCC parish of the Providence of God in Scranton was established by Stasys B. Mickevičius in 1913 and continues to operate. Scranton was also the stronghold of PNCC. The parishioners collected funds and purchased two plots of land, one for the church and the other for the cemetery. A temporary church was erected in 1915. Mickevičius left the parish in 1916. It became more active when it was taken over by bishop Jonas Gritėnas in 1919–1928. The parish purchased a 100-acre (40 ha) farm, established a shelter for the elderly (named after Vilnius; established in 1924 and closed after Gritėnas' death in 1928 due to financial difficulties), built a clergy house and a hall for parish events (named after Grand Duke Vytautas). Gritėnas also organized a short-lived priest seminary. At the time, the parishioners numbered about 300 families. They organized various events, including frequent picnics in a park behind the cemetery. Gritėnas was replaced by Mykolas Valadka who arrived from Uruguay in 1929 and continued to work at the parish until 1972. He was one of the leaders of LNCC and worked with other parishes as well, including working to establish a parish in Wilkes-Barre, PA. During his tenure, the parish in Scranton built its own church in 1930 which put the parish into long-term debt. The parish also had a Sunday school with children's theater and a choir which sang in Lithuanian even though some members were third generation immigrants. After his death, the parish priests were of Polish origin: Edward Ratajack (1974–1984), Jerzy Urbanski (1983–1987), L. Lazarski (1987–1990), Stanislaus Stryz (1990–2002), Walter Placek (since 2002).
caption: Lithuanian National Catholic Church in Scranton
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