Ukrainian Catholic University unveils new academic building (10/01/06)

Ukrainian Catholic University unveils new academic building

by Andrew Nynka

LVIV - During the Ukrainian Catholic University's ceremonial unveiling of a new academic building here on September 17, Patriarch Lubomyr Husar told several hundred people that the country's Orthodox and Catholic Churches will someday be united and that he believes the university will play a pivotal role in fulfilling that goal.

Likewise, Cardinal Husar, the archbishop major of Kyiv-Halych, said the school has been and will continue to be instrumental in fulfilling a universal goal of the Church, namely education.

"I would like to see that this theological and philosophical department, that this institution, will also be a leader through which our Church can work to unite us all," Cardinal Husar said during a sermon.

"I believe that we will be joined together like we once were," Cardinal Husar said, referring to a time, centuries ago, when the Church was united. "This is not some sort of emotional reaction."

The patriarch's comments on Sunday came during a morning liturgy at the Church of the Holy Spirit attended by about 25 bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and 300 people, among them seminarians, laity and local politicians.

Following the liturgy, the celebration moved from the church to the theology and philosophy building - about 300 yards away - where the new home of UCU's department of theology and philosophy was blessed and officially opened.

The new building is the latest addition to the university's Center of Theological Education and Formation campus, which sits on Khutorivka Street in the heart of this 750-year-old city. Several monastic orders, including the Studite Fathers and the Redemptorist Fathers, are also in the process of building facilities for their students on the 42-acre campus.

Khutorivka, as students call the campus, is also home to the 124,000-square-foot Holy Spirit Seminary and Church of the Holy Spirit, which opened in the summer of 2005.

The exterior of the new building was a façade of white plaster walls and brick-colored tile roof, an architectural style currently popular in Europe - matches the nearby church and seminary buildings.

The interior of the building was draped for the occasion in large swaths of gold-colored fabric. Hierarchs, clergy, faithful and guests packed the atrium of the building - a brightly lit center of the four-story complex - as the facility was blessed with holy water.

In his morning sermon, Cardinal Husar, the patriarch of the UGCC, made clear the university's importance to the church and to Ukrainian society. Calling the opening of the new building a "momentous event in the history of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church," the cardinal said he believes the school is essential for the entire Church.

"This institution does not belong to one eparchy," Cardinal Husar said. "It is an institution that belongs wherever our Church is located, whether in Ukraine or abroad."

Support for the new theology and philosophy building - both moral and financial - came from a variety of sources, including hierarchs, lay donors, international aid organizations and local politicians.

Andrii Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, was among those who voiced their support for the school's expansion, and he stressed the importance of a Catholic university in the city.

"For the city to be strong, we must have educated people," Mr. Sadovyi said. "We would like to help the university grow and become a world-class educational institution based here in our city."

Myroslav Senyk, head of the Lviv Oblast Council, called the opening of the new building "a major event not only for the university, but for the entire Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church."

Among other supporters of the school singled out during the ceremony on Sunday, Cardinal Husar noted the U.S.-based Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation (UCEF). He also pointed to the strong support of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Frankfurt, Germany-based international Catholic charity founded by the Dutch priest Father Werenfried van Straaten in 1947.

The Ukrainian Catholic primate also mentioned Renovabis, an international Catholic charity founded in March 1993 by the German Bishops' Conference. The aid organization supports pastoral, social and societal renewal in ex-Communist countries in Eastern and Central Europe, according to its website.

"We thank our sponsors - all of those that His Beatitude has mentioned and all of those who were not mentioned - this includes also those people who are not members of our Church - some who are not even Ukrainian," said Father Borys Gudziak, Ph.D., rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

Following the opening of the new building, university officials expressed concern that, with progress being made on the school's physical development, further financial support could dry up.

They also noted that, as with other large-scale development projects, construction of the building and fund-raising for the project go hand-in-hand and, therefore, school officials repeatedly urged past benefactors to continue their strong support of the university.

Prof. Jeffrey Wills, a member of the UCU senate, said the school plans to continue expanding, but only as far as possible without diminishing academic quality.

"We're rebuilding education in Ukraine," said Prof. Wills, who often notes that the school is the only Catholic university in the former Soviet Union. "It's a small university with great ambitions," he said.

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