LTA commemoration begins year devoted to Patriarch Slipyj

by Petro Didula

LVIV - The Lviv Theological Academy (LTA) hosted an evening of remembrance on February 18 devoted to the Year of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj that was announced by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic primate's birthday.

Among those who shared their memories of Patriarch Josyf were Bishop-elect Father Hlib Lonchyna; Father Mykhailo Dymyd, director of the academy's Institute of Canon Law; Father Roman Mirchuk, vice-rector of Holy Spirit Seminary (Lviv-Rudno) in the 1990s; and Father Myron Pidlisetskyi, a priest active during the underground period of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. All of them knew the patriarch personally. Myroslav Marynovych, director of the LTA's Institute of Religion and Society, also shared some reflections.

Oleh Turii, assistant director of the LTA's Institute of Church History, was the master of ceremonies. Selections from Patriarch Josyf's testament were read and, after each section, someone shared his memories of the patriarch and thoughts about the section from his testament that had just been read. The readings were about education, re-building the Church and the Patriarchate.

The choirs from Holy Spirit Seminary and the College of Sacred Music sang and a slide show illustrated Patriarch Josyf's life and times.

Although the current premises and location of the LTA are different than they were during the time when Josyf Slipyj was rector, there is a direct connection between these two institutions. This connection is found in the group of young academics, many of whom were students of Patriarch Josyf at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome, who bravely initiated the project of renewing the LTA in Lviv.

Among these people are the first rector of the renewed LTA, Father Dymyd, the present rector of the LTA, Father Borys Gudziak, Bishop-elect Lonchyna and many other professors and supporters of the Lviv Theological Academy.

"The greatest gesture of gratitude we can offer today to Patriarch Josyf Slipyj on the 110th anniversary of his birthday is to fulfill his dream, the goal of many years of his work, the fruit of his creative efforts and tireless prayer, namely, to open in Lviv the Ukrainian Catholic University," commented the rector of the LTA, the Rev. Dr. Gudziak.

"It is providential that the formal arrangement of the documents establishing the Ukrainian Catholic University will take place this year, the year of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj," added the Rev. Dr. Gudziak.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 3, 2002, No. 9, Vol. LXX

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