Diocese of Kaišiadorys Today

The Diocese of Kaišiadorys was established in 1926 when the Lithuanian Ecclesiastical Province was formed.

H. E. bishop Juozapas Matulaitis has been the Ordinary of the diocese since 1989.

When the metropolitan provinces of Vilnius and Kaunas were founded in 1991, the diocese of Kaišiadorys was annexed to the Vilnius metropolitan province.

Currently there are over 180 000 inhabitants in the diocese, 160 000 of whom are Roman Catholics. The Diocese covers an area of 6557 km2 and is divided into vicariates foranae of Alytus, Elektrėnai, Kaišiadorys, Merkinė, Molėtai, Stakliškės, Širvintai.

60 priests are currently serving in 68 parishes of the diocese. The most important center of spiritual life within the diocese is the famous Marian shrine in the village of Pivašiūnai. The Cathedral as well as the curia of the diocese with its pastoral institutions, namely the Catechetical center, the Family center, the Youth center and Caritas are located in Kaišiadorys, a second largest city of the diocese.

Two religious congregations of women are located in the diocese and a number of sisters from congregations whose motherhouses are in other dioceses serve in Kaišiadorys.

Young men from the diocese of Kaišiadorys receive their formation for the priesthood in St. Joseph seminary in Vilnius, in the center of the metropolitan province, together with seminarians from the archdiocese of Vilnius and diocese of Panevėžys. In the school year 2002-2003 fourteen seminarians from diocese of Kaišiadorys where enrolled at Vilnius seminary, one young man from the diocese of Kaišiadorys was ordained in 2003.

Some 160 religion teachers are currently employed in state schools in the diocese of Kaišiadorys. In the 2002-2003 school year, 14,000 pupils from the total of 24,000 have attended religion lessons in state schools within the diocese.

There are nursing homes for elderly and those living alone in the parishes of Aukštadvaris, Kruonis, Pivašiūnai, Vievis and Želva and St. Joseph home for temporary childcare in Paparčiai. A school granting a degree in social work is located in Aukštadvaris. The diocesan guesthouse "Birštono Tulpė" – in Birštonas is often used by the curia of the diocese and its pastoral institutions for various workshops, seminars, programs and retreats for priests as well as for lay people.

For more than 10 years now the diocese of Kaišiadorys has been enjoying a partnership with the diocese of Magdeburg in Germany. Several common projects of the two dioceses in the areas of catechesis and youth programs have been initiated several years ago and are currently in progress. Several young people from the diocese of Kaišiadorys had a chance to study and enrich their experience of parish pastoral work in the Seminary for Parish Pastoral work in Magdeburg.