2002: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Our Churches: active in Ukraine and abroad

Major developments in the life of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church were reported during 2002. Among them were the inauguration of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, the convening of a Patriarchal Sobor near Lviv and the blessing of the cornerstone of the patriarchal sobor in Kyiv.

At year's end there was renewed talk of a patriarchate for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, as the Catholic News Service reported that Cardinal Lubomyr Husar said the Vatican was studying practical steps that would have to be taken in order to proclaim the primate of the UGCC a patriarch.

"I think something is moving," Cardinal Husar told CNS on November 20, while attending a meeting of the Congregation for Eastern Churches at the Vatican. "Studies are being made because it is a very delicate question," one that could provoke strong negative reactions from Orthodox Churches if not explained and discussed with them, he explained to the news service.

The UGCC primate went on to say that he believes Pope John Paul II would like to give the Ukrainian Church the patriarchal status enjoyed by most other Eastern Catholic Churches, but due to "ecumenical commitments and sensitivity, the Vatican wants to make sure that such a move is "supported and accepted by the Eastern Churches - both Catholic and Orthodox."

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church also gained several new bishops. On January 11 Pope John Paul II gave his assent to the provisions made by the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church for the establishment of an exarchate in Donetsk-Kharkiv and the appointment of two auxiliary bishops for Lviv. An official Vatican release reported the creation of the archiepiscopal exarchate of Donetsk-Kharkiv, and the election of the Rev. Stepan Meniok, CSsR, superior of the monastery of St. Alfonso of Lviv, as hierarch of the new exarchate, as well as the election of the Rev. Ihor Vozniak, CSsR, master of novices for the Lviv province of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, and the Rev. Hlib Lonchyna, MSU (Monk of the Studite Order), collaborator at the apostolic nunciature in Kyiv, as auxiliaries for the Lviv Eparchy.

The Revs. Meniok and Vozniak, both members of the Redemptorist order, were born in Ukraine and studied during the Soviet era in the underground seminary in Lviv. They were ordained to the episcopacy on February 15 and 17, respectively; both ceremonies took place in St. George Cathedral in Lviv.

On May 13 in Donetsk, Bishop Meniok was installed as head of the Donetsk-Kharkiv Exarchate, the second exarchate of the UGCC established in Ukraine. (An exarchate is a church administrative structure headed by a bishop, but considered an organizational notch below the level of a full eparchy because of a more limited number of faithful and clergy.) During his sermon, newly installed Bishop Meniok said the UGCC does not want other religious confessions in eastern Ukraine to feel threatened by the new official presence of the Catholic Church there. "Our Church moves eastward with love, peace and God's blessings," said the new bishop.

The American-born Bishop Lonchyna's episcopal ordination took place in Lviv on February 27; on March 1 Bishop Lonchyna served his first episcopal liturgy at the Lviv Theological Academy, where he had previously been a teacher.

The Ukrainian Catholic University was formally opened on June 29. With a crowd of more than 3,000 Lviv residents watching, UCU Vice-Rector Myroslav Marynovych, acting as master of ceremonies, read the proclamation that announced the inauguration of the UGCC's new university in Ukraine.

The founding documents of the UCU had been signed by the St. Clement Fund at the Metropolitan's Palace in Lviv on February 22, in fulfillment of the decision of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in 2000 that recommended the foundation of the UCU in Lviv. Thus began the process of juridical registration and state accreditation of the UCU.

At the UCU's opening ceremony, seated on the stage erected before the famous Lviv Opera House on Lviv's Freedom Square were Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, UGCC archbishop major and the head of the Church who is also UCU chancellor; the newly appointed UCU rector, the Rev. Dr. Borys Gudziak; Archbishop Vsevolod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.; the Vatican's papal nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Mykola Eterovic; ambassadors from Great Britain, Germany and France; as well as Lviv Mayor Lubomyr Buniak and rectors of several prominent Ukrainian universities.

In his address, Cardinal Husar emphasized the need for a Christian university in Ukraine as a center for Christian thought and of Christian values. He called this the unique aspect of the new institution's work. "If a university is supposed to seek truth, beauty and goodness beyond the façade of the obvious, then the university that is being born today must uphold this standard as well and search for these eternal values, but in addition it must do so through the eyes of a Christian," he stated.

The head of the UGCC presented Rector Gudziak with a scholar's toga, which the late Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, the founder of St. Clement's Ukrainian Catholic University, located in Rome, had ordered made even before the doors of that institution opened. As Cardinal Husar explained, it was symbolic of the patriarch's inability to see anything but success in his endeavors.

The Rev. Gudziak, who had been unanimously elected to lead the new university by the St. Clement Fund that oversees the educational institution, reviewed the century-long effort to establish a Ukrainian Catholic university in Lviv, and the vision of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and determination of Patriarch Slipyj that led to its realization. He noted that seven of the Ukrainian martyrs for the faith that Pope John Paul II beatified last year had attended the Lviv Theological Academy, the UCU's predecessor. He also underscored the leading role the UCU must play in uniting Ukrainians through knowledge, understanding and tolerance.

The inauguration of the UCU was preceded by a conference on "The Identity and the Mission of the Ukrainian Catholic University," which reviewed the effort to establish a Catholic university in Ukraine and the history of the UGCC's higher educational institutions and looked ahead at the future of the new Lviv school.

The final session of a Patriarchal Sobor (council) met on June 30-July 4 in Rudno, some 30 kilometers outside of Lviv. Representatives of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church called on the Vatican to recognize its status as a patriarchal Church in a letter drawn up at the conclusion of the final session of a special convocation of the UGCC laity and leadership. The meeting, the final session of the three-part Patriarchal Sobor held over the course of six years (two earlier sessions were held in October 1996 and August 1998), approved a total of four documents, including an ethical code of social responsibility and two addresses, one to the primate and the other to the Church's faithful.

During a press conference after the conclusion of the Patriarchal Sobor, Cardinal Husar - whom many UGCC faithful already refer to as "patriarch," even while the Vatican officially refers to him as archbishop major - expressed confidence that the wishes of the UGCC will be acknowledged by the Mother Church.

"We are taking appropriate measures to come to an understanding with the holy father and Vatican authorities," explained Cardinal Husar, according to a UGCC press release. "In the last year this matter has gathered new momentum. It has become clear to all that we have a living Church, and in accord with the tradition of the Eastern Churches it should have the structure of a patriarchate."

The UGCC primate also stated his satisfaction with the sobor and the recommendations it had made to the UGCC leadership. He said that its most important characteristic was the expression of unity within the Church. "The sobor was seriously disposed to the problems of the Church, not only in Ukraine but in the diaspora. The whole Church felt the importance of the sobor," said Cardinal Husar.

On October 27, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church moved yet another step closer in its quest to set up a center in the capital of Ukraine. With more than 300 faithful in attendance at the future site of the religious center of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Cardinal Husar marked the beginning of construction of the UGCC patriarchal sobor as he blessed the building's cornerstone.

Nearly a dozen UGCC bishops and priests joined in the ceremony, which included encasing a commemorative plaque within the cornerstone as a time capsule. The text engraved on the black marble slab documented for posterity the date that construction on the patriarchal sobor began, and identified the religious leaders of both the ecumenical Catholic Church and the UGCC, as well as the political leaders of both Ukraine and Kyiv, the architect and the builder.

Construction of the church is the first phase of a plan that will eventually turn the site into the UGCC's new home and administrative headquarters. The initial stage also includes the building of the patriarchal residence and administrative office. Eventually a religious/cultural center and a school are envisioned for the complex on another two-hectare plot that the city has given UGCC officials an option to take.

Bishop Vasylyi Medvit of the Kyiv-Vyshhorod Eparchy said it was a historic moment for the UGCC. "This church, this building is being built for the ages," explained Bishop Vasylyi, who added that, "when that day finally arrives when our various Churches are united into one all-Ukrainian Church, this house of worship will then belong to it." The completion date for the construction of the sobor is autumn 2004.

The reaction of the Moscow Patriarchate was no surprise. When contacted by The Weekly for its stand on the construction of the cathedral, a spokesman expressed reservations about a UGCC religious complex in Kyiv: "Who needs a giant sobor that holds 5,000 people?" The spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate, the Rev. Heorhii Kovalenko, added: "But it is clear from this that the Greek-Catholic Church has placed before itself the aim of filling the church with those christened in the Orthodox faith. In Church language, this is called proselytization."

Even prior to the cornerstone blessing, when the UGCC first announced its intention of moving its center from Lviv to Kyiv, the UOC-MP had expressed its vehement opposition. "Moving the office of the head of the UGCC from Lviv to Kyiv and creating Catholic eparchies in Russia show that the masks have been finally thrown off. This means returning to the East, about which the Roman Catholics have always spoken," declared UOC-MP Archbishop Auhustyn of Lviv and Halych back in March. "They do not consider us true Christians and perceive the world as their canonical territory."

The year 2002 was proclaimed as the Year of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj by Cardinal Husar to mark the 110th anniversary of the late primate's birthday. The Lviv Theological Academy (LTA) hosted an evening of remembrance on February 18. 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. "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," commented the Rev. Dr. Gudziak, LTA rector, who was a student of Patriarch Josyf at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome.

The Ukrainian World Congress also paid tribute to Patriarch Slipyj, issuing a statement calling on all people of good will to honor this heroic pastor who endured 18 years of imprisonment and suffering for his Church and his faith. The statement was signed by UWC President Askold Lozynskyj and Bishop Cornelius Pasichny, eparch of Toronto and head of the UWC Church Council. The UWC also disseminated the "Prayer for the Beatification of Confessor Patriarch Josyf Slipyj."

Later in the year came the debut of a full-length documentary film, "Patriarch." The film on the heroic life of Cardinal Slipyj, the first leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church to have been commonly referred to by the designation "patriarch," premiered on June 29 - only hours before one of his most precious dreams, a Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, became a reality. It was the third premiere for the film, after an initial showing in Kyiv on June 21 to a packed house, and one in April in Chicago, at Ss. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church, whose parishioners financed much of the project.

The movie developed from an idea by ex-journalist Marta Kolomayets and her husband, Danylo Yanevsky, a Kyiv television host. The two decided to move forward on the project after a lively night of conversation with their friend, the Rev. Myron Panchuk, pastor of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha, about great men in Ukrainian history, during which the name of the patriarch cropped up in conversation. "It particularly affected me because I knew Patriarch Slipyj from my time at the summer courses of the UCU," said Ms. Kolomayets. Less than four months after the night of conversation that sparked the idea, a contract was signed with Kontakt Film Studio in Kyiv and noted Ukrainian television director Oleksander Frolov. Ms. Kolomayets became the film's executive producer and chief interviewer.

Another film project was initiated during 2002, as the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and Oles Yanchuk from the Dovzhenko Film Studio announced their collaboration on a film about Metropolitan Sheptytsky. As of mid-2002, fund-raising in support of the project had begun, and a screenplay for the full-length feature film was being solicited.

To record the history of Ukraine's "Church of the Catacombs," as the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church was referred to, the Institute of Church History at the Lviv Theological Academy has begun videotaping the testimonies of 50 of the oldest surviving members from the underground of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC). The accounts of these survivors, all over 70 years old, will be included in a documentary film about the UGCC's illegal existence in Ukraine from 1946 to 1989. This news was reported by the newspaper Postup (Progress) on June 4. Bishops, priests, priests' widows, religious men and laity talk about important events in their lives and the ordeals they had to undergo, professing Christian values in defiance of Soviet ideology. "These people are gradually passing away," noted Iryna Kolomyiets, head of the institute's pastoral department. "So we are simply obliged to leave their recollections, emotions and worldviews on film, to show future generations the right way to go. It is our duty to show and to preserve the faces of these everyday heroes."

In addition to the video project, the Institute of Church History since its founding in 1992 has been compiling a "living history" archive of the underground UGCC. This archive is a collection of texts, audio files, authentic documents and photographs. It was announced in June that the archive would soon be available not only to scholars and researchers, but would also be accessible via the Internet.

Other news related to the history of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church came in early 2002, when the Religious Information Service of Ukraine reported on a sensational discovery presented at Lviv's Museum of Ethnography and Art: the miter of Metropolitan Sheptytsky, head of the UGCC from 1900 to 1944. Andrii Yurash, lecturer at Lviv's Ivan Franko National University and at the Lviv Theological Academy, was the first to examine the relic and to theorize that this was the metropolitan's miter. The miter was part of a private collection belonging to Mykola Rohutskyi, president of the Artor company.

Meanwhile, in Canada, faithful of the Ukrainian Catholic Church marked another milestone: the creation of a shrine to a bishop who is one step from sainthood. In mid-September thousands in Winnipeg escorted the relics of the Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky from Ss. Vladimir and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, where they were in storage after being disinterred from a cemetery earlier in the week. The remains of Bishop Velychkovsky, who was persecuted, tortured and imprisoned by the Soviets, were enshrined in a small chapel-like structure inside St. Joseph Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Bishop Velychkovsky, who survived Soviet mistreatment for nearly 30 years, arrived in Winnipeg in June 1972 and died a year later. He was beatified in 2001, along with other martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, by Pope John Paul II. The Winnipeg Free Press reported that, according to Andre Lalach, program director for the Redemptorist Provincial House, the shrine to Bishop Velychkovsky is only the second one to martyrs in Canada. (The other is in Midland, Ontario dedicated to French missionaries who worked with the Huron people.) "It's probably once in a lifetime for most of us," said Mr. Lalach of the Winnipeg ceremony.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. celebrated two major anniversaries during 2002.

First came the 30th jubilee of the consecration of Metropolitan Constantine, the Church's primate, as bishop, an event that took place on May 7, 1972, in Philadelphia. Thirty years later, on May 18, hundreds of faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., and representatives of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Byzantine Catholic Church, Carpatho-Russian Church and the Ukrainian government gathered for the jubilee divine liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Parma, Ohio. An agape meal followed the religious services.

On September 28 the UOC-U.S.A. celebrated the 50th anniversary of the consecration of its Metropolia Grounds in South Bound Brook, N.J. Metropolitan Constantine could not participate as he was recuperating from surgery; his words of greeting were read at the liturgy by the Protopresbyter Frank Estocin. Hierarchs, clergy and faithful paid homage to the vision and the dedication of the UOC's spiritual fathers, Metropolitan John Theodorovich and Patriarch Mstyslav Skrypnyk, for realizing the necessity of having a diocesan center, museum and cultural center as an anchor for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States and in the Ukrainian diaspora.

Archbishop Antony, ruling archbishop of the Eastern Eparchy and president of the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.; Archbishop Vsevelod, ruling bishop of the Western Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.; Archbishop Yurij of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada; and Bishop Dimitrios of the Greek Orthodox Church of America; were greeted at the door to St. Andrew's Memorial Church. Also concelebrating were 47 priests and three deacons.

Following the liturgy, all the bishops, priests, deacons and faithful participated in the blessing of the Apostolic Prayer Trail, which comprises 15 icons placed on wooden crosses along the path between the memorial church and the cemetery. The icons depict the 12 Apostles, St. Paul, St. Volodymyr the Great and St. Olha, and the icon of the Transfiguration.

The year 2002 was notable also for the UOC-U.S.A. as the Church was involved with the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund in helping the children of the Zaluchia orphanage, located in a remote village of that name in the Sniatyn district of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. On October 23 Archbishop Antony led a 40-member delegation from the UOC-U.S.A. on a visit to the institution, which had been notorious for its poor conditions. It was through the efforts of CCRF that the deplorable conditions in which the children lived became known, and many improvements have since been made thanks to the generosity of benefactors from the United States.

The guiding force behind the establishment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Center in South Bound Brook, Metropolitan Mstyslav, who later became patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine was recalled on the ninth anniversary of his death on June 11, 1993, with a panakhyda (memorial service).

In remarks delivered at the crypt where the Church leader is buried, Protopresbyter Estocin noted: When Metropolitan Mstyslav became patriarch of Kyiv and All Ukraine, he devoted all of his experience and strength to the cause of fortifying and establishing an independent Ukrainian Church. His vision was one of undivided unity based on prayer, love and mutual forgiveness. Today, nine years after his repose, his vision is still struggling in independent Ukraine; his spirit of love for freedom and unity seems to disappear among the various jurisdictions of the Orthodoxy in Ukraine and the diaspora.

Another Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the UOC- Kyiv Patriarchate expanded its presence in the United States with the enthronement of a new bishop. On May 19, the Very Rev. Stephen Bilak, 83, was ordained a bishop during a pastoral visit to the United States of Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine, the UOC-KP's primate. Present at the ceremony, in addition to Patriarch Filaret, were Bishops Dymytrii and Alexander (Bykovetz). The Rev. Bilak is a former pastor of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Cooper City, Fla.

The website of the Vicary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate in the USA notes that Bishop Bilak, former president of the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. (headquartered in South Bound Brook, N.J.), was a long-time member of the hierarchy of UOC-USA. However, after the UOC-USA leadership decided to come under the omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, the Rev. Bilak opted for the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate.

The vicary's website also said of Bishop Bilak's enthronement: "This is a momentous occasion, for it firmly establishes the Kyiv Patriarchate within the borders of the United States and Canada and unites all parishes which have declared their allegiance to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, under one central leadership." The site went on to explain that Patriarch Filaret had formally established a Vicary of UOC-KP for the United States and Canada headquartered in Cooper City, Fla., with Bishop Stephan as its spiritual leader. On May 20, a Vicary Constitution was reviewed and formally adopted, and a Bishop's Council, consisting of four clergy and four laypersons, was elected.

In late December, Patriarch Filaret again journeyed to the United States, this time on what Ukraine's diplomats in the United States told The Weekly was a private visit.

Back in Ukraine, by year's end a fourth Ukrainian Orthodox Church had appeared on the scene: the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Sobornopravna, led by Metropolitan Moisei. Speaking on November 27 after the Church's establishment was announced, the church's primate emphasized that his goal is to bring unity to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

"I believe that a new leader, a new spiritual leader, can show a new way, give a fresh perspective. The opportunity for unification exists," said Metropolitan Moisei, who also went on to criticize the leaders of the three existing Orthodox Churches in Ukraine: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Ukraine's Muslims also were in the news during 2002 when Ukraine joined most of the world in commemorating the first anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. A special conference hosted by Islamic Ukrainians on September 9 kicked off a weeklong series of memorial events in Kyiv. At the conference, organized by the regional branch of the Ukrainian Islamic organization, Arraid, at the Islamic Community Center in Kyiv, Ukrainian Islamic political and religious leaders, as well as government representatives, discussed Ukraine's reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks and how the events affected Muslims in Ukraine.

From the outset, participants made it clear that no one was going to excuse the action of the Al Qaeda terrorists who organized and carried out the attacks. "We, the Muslims of Ukraine, condemn the terrorist acts and we also condemn extremism in the name of Islamic principles," said Mufti Suleiman Mukhamedzianov, the spiritual head of Kyiv's Muslims in opening the conference.

Yurii Kochubyi, head of the Ukrainian Organization of Foreign Affairs and editor-in-chief of the magazine Eastern World, who once was a diplomat to the Middle East, explained that, counter to the pronouncements by many experts and academics after the calamitous events of September 11, a "clash of civilizations," did not begin, as some were quick to label a new era they said would ensue. Instead, the result was more understanding and more cooperation than was evident earlier.

About 2 million members of the Islamic faith live in Ukraine, constituting some 4 percent of the population.

Other Church news during 2002 included the following.

• Canada's Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate (SSMI) marked the centennial of their mission in 2002. The order held eparchial celebrations on October 6, with a divine liturgy of thanksgiving at Winnipeg's St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church. The Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, the first Ukrainian apostolic congregation of women, were founded in 1892 in Zhuzhel, western Ukraine, by the Rev. Kyrylo Seletsky, a parish priest, under the spiritual guidance of Y. Lomnytsky of the Basilian order. The first charter was approved by Metropolitan Sylvester Sembratovych in May 1892, and the first prioress of the Sisters Servants was Sister Josaphata Hordashevska. In 1902, in response to a request by the Canadian Roman Catholic hierarchy, Metropolitan Sheptytsky sent a group comprising three Basilian priests, a lay brother and four Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, to minister to the new Ukrainian immigrants in Canada. Celebrations of the centenary will continue in 2003.
  
  
• A jubilee was celebrated also by Bishop Basil Losten who on December 7 marked the 25th anniversary of his installation as the third bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, Conn. Among the hundreds who attended the celebration that day, which began with a pontifical divine liturgy of thanksgiving and ended with a dinner reception, were cardinals and bishops of the Catholic Church, as well as the Vatican's apostolic nuncio to the United States, hierarchs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., faithful and friends of Bishop Losten.
  
  
• A U.S. landmark also marked an anniversary during 2002. St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jewett, N.Y., recognized by local newspapers when it was first built as a unique and significant piece of wooden architecture, is a distinctive example of Ukrainian culture. Dr. Ivan and Natalia Makarewycz, donated the land and initiated the project, and the church was built by master craftsman Jurij Kostiw, based on artist Jaroslaw Paladij's preliminary scale model and architect Ivan Zhukowsky's construction drawings. Inside the church are an iconostasis and other woodcarved works by sculptor Mychailo Czereshniowskyj, as well as icons by Petro Cholodny. The church and its "Grazhda" building are also the focal point of the Hunter area Ukrainian community and serve as the venue for many concerts and art exhibits. Parishioners and friends marked the church's 40th anniversary on August 4 with a liturgy and festive luncheon.
  
  
• Stritennia, or Presentation, the choir of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, wowed audiences in the greater Toronto area this past July when they came to sing for the 2002 World Youth Day held on July 23-28. But they also sang for divine liturgies at local Ukrainian Catholic parishes, performed concerts of sacred music and even appeared on a broadcast of a nationwide Christian television channel in Canada. The choir comprises students and staff of the Ukrainian Catholic University.
  
  
• In April it was reported that after a 20-year hiatus, the Alumni Association of the Lviv Theological Academy (LTA) has been revived. The LTA graduated its first post-war class in 1999, so there are now three years of fresh graduates to give the association vigor, and there are more graduates to come. The sterling example of numerous pre-war graduates and the active assistance of a remaining few are an inspiration for 200 new active members. The academy's pre-war alumni list is composed of such distinguished figures as the late Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky and Fathers Roman Lysko and Oleksii Zarytskyi, two of the new Ukrainian martyrs beatified by Pope John Paul II in Lviv last June. The last meeting of pre-war alumni was held in Toronto in May 1980.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 12, 2003, No. 2, Vol. LXXI

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