Jonas Kauneckas

Jonas Kauneckas (born June 6, 1938 in Trajoniškis , district Pasvalys , Lithuania ) is emeritus bishop of Panevėžys .

Life

Kauneckas graduated from the Panevėžys Hydromelioration Technical Center in 1959 and worked in this field for the following years. Since 1959 he had tried to enroll in a seminary, which the Soviet authorities prevented. In 1971 he was involved in the collection of around 17,000 signatures for a memorandum demanding freedom of belief in Lithuania. He himself collected around 3,500 signatures. It was not until 1972 that he was able to enter seminar. Jonas Kauneckas finally received on May 22, 1977 the ordination for the diocese of Telšiai . In the following years he worked there as a parish vicar and pastor. In addition, he was committed to the rights of Catholics until 1989, organized protest actions and distributed Catholic publications underground. In 1990 he rose to the sub-rain of the Telšiai seminary. In 1993 Pope John Paul II awarded him the title of Monsignor . For his commitment in the Soviet era, Kauneckas was awarded the Order of the Vytis Cross by President Valdas Adamkus in 1998.

Pope John Paul II appointed him on May 13, 2000 titular bishop of Forconium and auxiliary bishop in Telšiai. The Apostolic Administrator of Estonia , Erwin Josef Ender , donated him episcopal ordination on August 5th of the same year; Co- consecrators were Sigitas Tamkevičius SJ , Archbishop of Kaunas , and Antanas Vaičius , Bishop of Telšiai. On January 5, 2002, he was appointed Bishop of Panevėžys.

On June 6, 2013, Pope Francis accepted his resignation due to reasons of age.

Web links

• Entry on Jonas Kauneckas on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Biography on the website of the Panevėžys Diocese (Lithuanian)

predecessor	Office	successor
Juozas Preikšas	Bishop of Panevėžys 2002–2013	Lionginas Virbalas SJ