TORONTO – The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute (MASI) of Eastern Christian Studies is hosting a gathering on Tuesday, July 25, to celebrate the opening of its new home at the University of Toronto (U of T) on the University of St. Michael’s College (USMC) campus.
The event will include a Garden Party and a blessing of MASI’s new premises by Bishop Borys Gudziak, eparch of Paris and president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, with the participation of the archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Thomas Collins. Another highlight will be the main address by Bishop Gudziak on “The Unique Importance of the Sheptytsky Institute for the Universal Church.”
“We are looking forward to having the Ukrainian Canadian community join MASI, the USMC and the U of T communities as we mark our much-anticipated relocation,” said Father Peter Galadza, MASI’s acting director. “It will be an opportunity for us to showcase what we have to offer Toronto in the area of theological education.”
The Sheptytsky Institute specializes in Eastern Christian studies, with a primary but not exclusive emphasis on the Church of Kyiv. Its main study streams are theology, spirituality, history and ecclesial polity of all four families of Eastern Churches: the Eastern Orthodox, Pre-Chalcedonian, Assyrian and Eastern Catholic. Through the USMC Faculty of Theology, it offers courses at the basic degree (M.Div.and M.T.S.) and advanced degree (M.A., Ph.D.) levels. It publishes Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, the only Eastern Christian peer-reviewed academic journal in Canada.
Students of MASI include clergy, church leaders and laity from North America, Ukraine and around the world. One of its most notable former students is Patriarch Sviatoslav of Ukraine, who now serves as the international patron of the Sheptytsky Institute.
The Sheptytsky Institute was founded in 1986 by Father Andriy Chirovsky in Chicago and named after the legendary leader of the Greco-Catholic Church (1900-1944). In 1990, MASI moved to Ottawa’s St. Paul University at the behest of the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchs, who recognized the importance of having such an institution of higher learning in Canada. As of July 1, MASI will be an autonomous academic unit within USMC’s Faculty of Theology and part of the Toronto School of Theology, an ecumenical consortium of seven colleges.
MASI will be housed in a prime location – in Windle House, a stately historic mansion situated in the heart of the USMC campus. In addition, USMC has allotted space for a MASI chapel in a nearby building.
“U of T is one of the world’s foremost research universities,” noted the Rev. Galadza, “and St. Michael’s College is a venerable center of Catholic intellectual thought. We are honored that they have welcomed us into their fold.”
The celebrations on July 25 begin with a garden party at 5 p.m., with the blessing to follow at 6:30 p.m. Bishop Gudziak will deliver his address at 8 p.m. The location is Windle House, 5 Elmsley Place (near the corner of Bay Street and St. Joseph Street), University of St. Michael’s College campus, University of Toronto. Admission is free and open to all, but those who wish to attend should RSVP by July 20 by e-mailing [email protected].
For more information about MASI, readers may visit http://www.sheptytskyinstitute.ca.