February 22, 2022

Dear friends –

Once again, I have to update you on an internal matter that has plagued us for over a year.

Last week, we received a letter from the Michigan Attorney General’s office (PDF: AG Complaint). Attached to the letter was a 25-page complaint against Romuva North America, Inc. by J. Kimo Arbas. We were required to address all of his allegations and submit our response, which we have done (PDF: Michigan AG Response to complaint).

Today I spoke to the Attorney General’s office and they assured me that Kimo provided no evidence of wrongdoing on our part and that they would not move forward with any action.

Kimo has been harassing and libeling us with unfounded claims for over a year on the Vaidilu Ratas (Priests’ Circle) mailing list, to individuals, on his Facebook page, by creating a fake Facebook profile (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071193189077) presumably with the sole purpose to troll us (the only post is the one complaining about us, and its only friend is Kimo himself), and by accusing us of, among other things, “criminal fraud” in at least four different places on Facebook.

When the stebėtojų tarybas (supervisory committee) of Lietuvos Romuva published their decision to recognize Lietuvos Romuva North America as separate from Romuva North America in conflict with their announcement in March of 2021 (https://alkas.lt/2021/03/21/siaures-amerikos-romuva-pripazinta-jav/), they did so without looking at any of the evidence we offered (which we made public in December after they rendered their decision https://romuva.us/evidence/). While we DID agree not to contest to Kimo having a separate organization called “Lietuvos Romuva North America,” we did so to “keep the peace” and in hopes of stopping his harassment. We agreed to this with the understanding that we would continue to ignore Kimo and he would ignore us. Unfortunately, Kimo’s harassment has not only escalated, but it has become more public and more extreme.

We have done our best to shield the community at large from this unpleasantness, but when things come into the public sphere, it would be irresponsible of us not to respond. We are sharing this with you so that if you come across something negative about any individual on the Board of Directors, or about Romuva North America, you will have knowledge of the evidence we present. At any time, if you have concerns about any individual (including Board Members), please reach out to one of us through Private Message.

Once again, I apologize for the unpleasantness of this announcement. We work as a team and have always strived to be transparent. I hope you feel assured that we will always have your best interests at heart and our sole purpose is to help to grow Romuva in the diaspora, to educate and support you.

Dieve padek, Laima palaimink,
Leslie Jūratė Rzeznik, Director, Romuva North America, Inc.

Approved by Board Members:
Marija Kuncaitis
Laura Juozunas
Bernie Abromaitis

and by special advisor to Romuva North America, Inc.:
Prudence Priest