Gyvosios Dvasios Sąjûdis Tarpukario Lietuvoje
Alive Spirit Movement in Interwar Lithuania

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with Alive Spirit movement in interwar Lithuania. It shows that Alive Spirit movement, on one hand, was inspired by the effort to refresh the Catholic spirit shown by the famous Catholic intellectuals of that time in Western Europe (J. Maritain, E. Mounier, P. Klodel, G. Bernanos) who resisted the increasing secularism and its challenges; on the other hand, it was inspired by the increasing formalism of interwar Lithuania church life, by the disappearance of social Catholic principles in interpersonal relations, and by the increasing separation between the priest and the believer. The nucleus of Alive Spirit movement was made of Catholic intellectuals (S. Ðalkauskis, A. Maceina, P. Jakas, V. Taškûnas, A. Steponavièius, S. Yla, L. Tulaba etc.), who, seeing the caution and hesitation of the authorities of Catholic Church (sometimes reasoned, sometimes - not) to the challenges of secularism, initiated a concentration of the Catholic intelligentsia for the Catholic spirit being an example in social life. They were against an overstated protection of the individual and against a mistrust in the individual’s ability to make decisions voluntarily; they defended the necessity to revive the authentic faith hidden deep inside the human, to strengthen his religious aspirations and in that way to cherish Catholic spirituality, without which any reasonable and morally responsible activity is not possible.

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