Ukrainian Catholic University celebrates licensing of theology (04/02/06)

Ukrainian Catholic University celebrates licensing of theology

by Petro Didula
and Matthew Matuszak

LVIV Though it was the first week of Lent according to the Julian calendar, Lviv's Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) let itself celebrate a little on March 9. The occasion was the licensing of theology as an academic subject by Ukraine's Ministry of Education, a task that has taken long years of the university's persistent efforts. The ministry announced its decision on March 2.

Among those joining students and staff for the celebration were a number of bishops and religious of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and representatives of the government and educational institutions.

Dr. Volodymyr Turchynovskyi, director of UCU's Planning and Development Office, was asked to explain the significance of the March 2 decision of Ukraine's Ministry of Education. "According to the existing procedure in Ukraine, after receiving a license to offer a certain educational program a university should also go through the process of accreditation of this program," said Dr. Turchynovskyi. "Usually accreditation happens before the first students graduate, and, if [accreditation] is successful, the university receives the right to award diplomas recognized by the government to the graduates of this program."

"The uniqueness of our situation," continued Dr. Turchynovskyi, "is that UCU, after receiving a license, not waiting for four years, immediately started the process of accreditation of its theology program, planning to award its graduates in June 2006 with diplomas in theology recognized by the government. Ukraine's Ministry of Education has supported this initiative, recognizing that, in fact, the theology program has already functioned at UCU for more than 10 years. It already has had seven graduating classes and achieved international recognition."

In 1998 the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education accredited UCU's bachelor's program in theology, thus allowing graduates to pursue further studies in all Catholic universities worldwide.

"Among other things," noted Dr. Turchynovskyi, "from now on the students of UCU's Faculty of Philosophy and Theology can take advantage of all the special rates and reduced fees which the government guarantees to Ukrainian students. In parallel with the accreditation process, UCU is also preparing documents for licensing its master's degree program in theology at Ukraine's Ministry of Education. We're counting on receiving the license at the end of the spring 2006 semester."

The UCU is also working on the issue of gaining official government accreditation for the hundreds of students to whom it has already awarded bachelor's degrees in theology. At present their degrees are not recognized in Ukraine, though dozens of them are pursuing graduates studies in Catholic and other institutions throughout the world.

According to the rector of the UCU, the Rev. Borys Gudziak, though, the UCU was at the forefront of this effort, "with every step there were more and more people and institutions that supported the accreditation of theology in Ukraine."

"Those were the Orthodox hierarchs of different denominations, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, seminary administrations, the Lviv Council of Rectors, the journal Krytyka, foreign ambassadors, and politicians and foreign scholarly centers like Harvard University, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, the Petro Jacyk Center, and other international universities and foundations," he explained.

Ukraine remained the only country in Central and Eastern Europe, including Belarus and Russia, where theology did not have "civil rights," as the Rev. Gudziak put it. During his visit to Ukraine in 2001, Pope John Paul II brought up the recognition of theology in his conversation with former President Leonid Kuchma. Though the UCU has played the leading role in getting theology licensed, there are already dozens of theological institutions of various religious denominations that will be able to take advantage of this achievement.

"From the start of our history to such an epochal event as the Orange Revolution, the Church and Christian principles have been the source of Ukraine's original genius," said the Rev. Gudziak. "We are witnesses today of a great breakthrough: Christian thought finds its proper place in the scholarly and social life of Ukraine, where the people were deeply wounded by the dramatic history of the 20th century. Like the air we breathe, our society needs to accept that potential which religious life gives. But, so that this potential is sufficiently utilized, it should constantly yield to critical interpretation. This is precisely where the task of the theologian lies."

"It is important now for us to develop further and strengthen the school of theological thought," continued the Rev. Gudziak. "The world is exceptionally complex. There are various conflicts against the background of religious questions. We are witnesses of the demographic decline and crisis of moral principles in the European community. It is not impossible that Ukraine, which, to a significant extent, thanks to the ecclesiastical opposition movement, managed to survive totalitarian regimes, could become a place where a proposition for a new world-view is formulated for 21st century Europe." "Theology can play an important role in this process," he said. "Ukraine should speak with a theological voice, subtle, critical, creative, with a smile and an awareness of the complexity of the global situation. The formation of such a school, which does not close its eyes to the pain of the modern person, in his or her deep spiritual longing and in social and economic injustices, is a key task of the UCU."

Speaking at the March 9 celebration, Dr. Maria Zubrytska, pro-rector of Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, reminded those present of how important and necessary the role of theology is in the social renewal of post-Soviet Ukraine.

Among the supporters in government of the accreditation of theology were Lviv Oblast Administration Chair Petro Oliinyk, who was instrumental in getting the licensing approved, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko himself.

Further information about the UCU in English and Ukrainian is available on the university's website at www.ucu.edu.ua. Readers may also contact the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation, 2247 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622; phone, 773-235-8462; e-mail, [email protected]; website, www.ucef.org. The phone number of the UCEF in Canada is 416-239-2495.

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