Vyskupas Vincentas Padolskis - okupuotos vyskupijos ganytojas

LTPraėjus šešiasdešimčiai metų po Antrojo pasaulinio karo praradimų ir netekčių, taip pat pasibaigus ilgam ir slogiam sovietiniam laikotarpiui, daugelis mokslininkų mėgina analizuoti karo, pokario ir sovietmečio paliktas problemas. Tačiau mažiausiai dėmesio skiriama 1944 m. vasaros įvykiams, kai slenkant frontui per Suvalkiją daug kunigų ir pasauliečių buvo priversti arba savo noru pasitraukė į Vakarus. Šiame straipsnyje pristatomas vyskupas Vincentas Padolskis ir mėginama atsakyti į vieną iš pagrindinių jo apsisprendimo pasitraukti iš Lietuvos artėjant frontui momentų. Kitas straipsnio uždavinys – vyskupo V.Padolskio nenuginčijamų nuopelnų Lietuvos Katalikų Bažnyčiai ir pavergtai tautai įvertinimas.

ENSixty years after the many losses of World War II, as well as the end of the long and oppressive Soviet period, many scholars try to analyze the problems of the war, post-war and Soviet periods. Unfortunately very little attention has been focused on the events of the summer of 1944, the time when the war front advanced through Suvalkija, and many priests and lay people either forcefully or voluntarily moved to the West. Their situation was very difficult. The Nazi powers insisted that people, especially the intelligentsia, retreat with their army. The article presents Bishop Padolskis and attempts to explain the reasons for his decision to emigrate from Lithuania before the advancing front. On July 18, 1940 Padolskis was nominated as the titular bishop of Laranda and assigned as the bishop coadjutor of the Vilkaviškis Diocese. He accepted the Nazi suggestion to emigrate and for some time lived in Germany. Because all the motives and circumstances for his retreat are not known, the question remains was his action – exile or retreat? Another aim of the article is to evaluate his prominent merits to the Catholic Church and his oppressed nation, while caring for the spiritual life of the Lithuanian refugees as he lived in Germany and Rome (from 1951) as well as assisting the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences and the College of St. Casimir.