John Gritenas

John Gritenas (born Jonas Gritėnas; 23 June 1884 – 28 December 1928) was bishop of the Lithuanian National Catholic Church (LNCC), a small religious denomination based in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Gritėnas was born in Vilnius, (then the Russian Empire), the son of Aleksandras Gritenas and Lucya (née Kumorowski).[1] He immigrated to the United States in 1910. He attended the Polish National Catholic Church's Seminary in Scranton and 1914 was ordained as a priest by Father Franciszek Hodur.[2]

In 1920, Gritėnas was appointed pastor of the Scranton parish of the Lithuanian National Catholic Church, and he prepared prayer books and other theological publications. He was consecrated as a bishop by the synod of the Polish National Catholic Church on August 17, 1924. He returned to Lithuania in 1922 and 1927, where he hoped to set up a parish of the American LNCC, but his health began to decline. In 1928, he died of diphtheria.[2]

References
  1. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1964; Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
  2. Vaitkevičienė, Kristina (2015). "Lietuvių tautinės katalikų bažnyčios Amerikoje raidos bruožai" [Characteristics of the development of the Lithuanian Catholic Church in America] (PDF). Lithuanian Migration & Diaspora Studies (in Lithuanian). VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute: 74–75. Retrieved 20 June 2017.


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