Siluva50USA

The Šiluva Chapel in Washington 50 Year Jubilee Committee was organized to celebrate in 2016 the Golden Jubilee of the 1966 dedication of the Chapel of Our Lady of Siluva in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. This chapel is a landmark of Lithuanian culture in the United States. It celebrates not only the deep religious traditions of Lithuanian-Americans, but also the sustained support that this community provided to the cause of religious, cultural, and political freedom in Lithuania during its unlawful occupation by the Soviet Union during and, again, following the Second World War.

The Chapel was dedicated in 1966, at a time of seemingly triumphant Soviet repression. It is remarkable, therefore, that the Chapel’s Silver Jubilee celebration in 1991 coincided with the celebration of the restoration of the independent Lithuanian state. And now the Chapel's Golden Jubilee celebration in 2016 coincides with the Silver Jubilee of the restoration of independence, including religious freedom, in Lithuania.