An address given in South Boston to the Parishioners and supporters of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Parish of South Boston, Massachusetts by Thorsteinn Gislason, Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Salem, NH on Sunday, June 13, 2004 at an event to rally support to keep the church open.

Lithuanian Americans, Parishioners of St. Peter’s Church,
Friends of Lithuania, President Cepas.

It is with a heavy heart
that I join you today, on this weekend
normally dedicated to a Day of Mourning and Hope
as Lithuanians commemorate the beginnings
of many waves of Soviet Russian Deportations to Siberia,
that began at this time in June of 1941.

For the next decade and a half,
Stalin’s henchmen systematically worked
to make room for new Russian settlements in Lithuania.
Over that time,
hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians
were forced from their homes.

And yet… in spite of losing
so many of her most talented children to migration,
Lithuania persevered through deportations,
as she had through czarist oppression
and the challenges of Polish union
dating back to the battle of Zalgiris in the Middle Ages.

So, as Lithuanians mourn the losses
and oppression that date back to those dark days of
June 1941, we also remember
the changes which came 50 years later in 1991.
They are our reminder
that there is also reason to have hope.

This June 2004
we are facing a period of our own Lithuanian mourning
here in Boston.
St. Peter’s Church, which was consecrated in 1904
came to into being through the efforts of
the Lithuanian community in Boston,
which dates back to the 1880’s.
With its merger ten years later after founding, the combined St. Casimir’s Lithuanian Church (founded in 1895) and St. Peter’s,
have been the focus of Lithuanian life in Boston for a century.

St. Peter’s history
is the history of Lithuanian’s coming to Boston to make their life here.
It is also a parish
that has always maintained strong ties with Lithuania
and has generously lent its support to all matters Lithuanian.

Lithuanian language and culture
are deeply rooted in St. Peter’s parish,
which has over the decades
served as the nucleus of Lithuanian life
in Eastern and Northern New England.
The importance of St. Peter’s to Lithuanians here
is further accentuated by the closure of churches in Lowell, Haverhill
and most recently, Nashua, Lawrence, Norwood and Cambridge.

In St. Peter’s rich history
you will find sponsorship of musical and dramatic activities,
as well as sport and social events
and mutual aid and support to Lithuanians making their way in Boston.

Those sons and daughters of St. Peter’s
have lived the American dream
and they became productive citizens of their new country.
And like others
they migrated to the suburbs as they made their way as new Americans.
And yet… St. Peter’s Parish
continued to be the vital link to their Lithuanian heritage.

Circumstances in the archdiocese of Boston
now call for consolidation and closure of parishes,
and the unimaginable has happened.
As part of this plan
the archbishop has announced his intention to close St. Peter’s. …
….As was the case in June 1941, when the deportations began,
SIXTY THREE years ago,
it is a dark day for Lithuanians in Boston.

Let us take courage from history’s lessons.
The deportations failed to kill the Lithuanian spirit.
Let it be so for us all, with this new challenge.

It is a day of Mourning,
and yet… it is also a day of Hope.
With this inspiration
I call upon the good people of this Lithuanian community
to band together and to give their tireless effort
to save this storied nucleus of Lithuanian life in New England.

God Bless you in your efforts
and God Save St. Peter’s Church.