Katoļu gimeņu dzīve un tradīciju saglabāšana padomju Latvijā

The narrative history of the Catholic families in Latvia is a promissing research project disclosing the various facets of non-violent resistance to the Soviet totalitarian regime in Latvia. It is also an important illustration of the various forms of the preservation of faith and the traditional lif-style under different political and economic conditions for the faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church. It is both a story of deeply personal nature, and also a means for better understanding of the present-day realities - the wars, the persecution of Christians, the problem of the displaced persons; it helps to foster empathy towards the persecuted ones, to teach solidarity. During the Soviet occupation, the family was the central place for the preservation of the tradition and for providing of spiritual succor to the members of the Catholic community, territorially and ideologically divided as it was. The central mission of the families was to preserve the Latvian national identity. The Latvian Catholic parishes and organizations in exile offered various means for the service and social activities, so as to keep together the generations and to pass on the cultural experience. In Siberia the Church was prevented from offering services to the Catholics incarcerated in the Soviet prison camps. There was no possibility of sacramental life, and the personal praxis of each one of the prisoners depended on the support of the families. Most of the incarcerated Roman Catholics who survived returned home at the end of the fifties of the 20th century and renewed their sacramental life. As to the faithful in Latvia, they not only were aware that "the Church has to be preserved", but also developed means to achieve this end. The Church was a place to meet God and to obtain spiritual succor. The people developed - according to personal sense of freedom - life-style models that were not so much centered around the parish or the Church as an institution, or a priest as a spiritual leader. The work of the Church was strictly limited and the priests were rigidly controlled, The chief influence of the Church was centered through the families and family traditions. The families became a kind of "home-churches" engaged in religious praxis and in upkeep of Christian traditions. The concerns of the Latvian Roman Catholic Church during the years of the Soviet occupation of Latvia was directed along three equally important dimensions - in the occupied Latvia, in exile and in Siberia. In each one of these locations specific models for the preservation of faith and traditions were developed, and everywhere these endeavours required responsible action, hard work an courage.