Ukrainian Catholic University's founding documents are signed in Lviv (04/14/02)

Ukrainian Catholic University's founding documents are signed in Lviv

LVIV - The founding documents of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) were signed by the St. Clement Fund at the Metropolitan's Palace in Lviv on February 22. These statutes fulfill the decision of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in 2000, which recommended the foundation of the UCU in Lviv.

In this way, the process of juridical registration and state accreditation of the UCU has started. It is providential that this decision was made at the beginning of the year proclaimed to honor Patriarch Josyf Slipyj.

Solemn confirmation of the university's importance for the entire Church will take place on July 3-4, during special events at the third session of the Patriarchal Council of the UGCC.

"Today, we are on the way to the real fulfillment of the UCU," said Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the St. Clement Fund which was created for the work of founding the UCU. "We sincerely hope that this project, which our forefathers dreamed about, will become a reality. In this university both Ukrainian priests and Ukrainian laity will have a chance to prepare themselves for academic life and to improve civil life."

It was Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky who began work toward founding a Ukrainian Catholic university in Lviv. In 1905, during a session of the Austrian Parliament, he demanded the founding of such a university. The political situation of that time did not allow the fulfillment of this intention. During the inter-war period, Ukrainians were strongly discouraged from attending Lviv State University. An unofficial university was founded in answer to this injustice, but in 1925 this university was forcefully liquidated. This was one of the events that compelled Metropolitan Sheptytsky to increase his efforts in the direction of creating an establishment of higher education in Lviv where Ukrainians could gain a university education in the spirit of the Christian intellectual tradition.

In 1929, the opening of the Greek-Catholic Theological Academy took place with Father Josyf Slipyj, Ph.D., as its first rector. Metropolitan Sheptytsky wanted the Theological Academy to eventually develop into a Catholic university, yet World War II became an obstacle to this intention. Following 1946, the academy itself was forcefully closed. Having come to Rome in 1963 after 18 years of prisons and camps, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj founded the Ukrainian Catholic University named in honor of Pope St. Clement.

By the time of the 1970s and 1980s, Ukrainian seminarians studying in Rome began to reflect on the prospect of creating such a university in Ukraine. The Lviv Theological Academy (LTA) was renewed in 1994, thanks to graduates of the UCU in Rome and numerous other individuals. From its beginning the LTA was supposed to be the first step towards the development of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Ukraine.

The LTA is now accredited with a bachelor's program in theology and philosophy from the Congregation of Catholic Education; it has opened a history department, as well as a licentiate program in theology. Today at the LTA there are about 1,000 students, 90 teachers, two departments and eight academic institutes, in addition to one of the most dynamic libraries in Ukraine with 60,000 volumes catalogued by computer.

With the transformation of the LTA into a university, there are plans to open several more departments and institutes relating to the humanities and other social disciplines. The building of the entire university complex on Stryiska Street and Chutorivka is planned in order to provide the UCU with a structure of Western standards. The cornerstone of the UCU was blessed by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Ukraine in June 2001.

The founding of the UCU has great meaning for the development of humanities education in Ukraine. The UCU is not a state institution, and for that reason it has special possibilities in terms of innovations. The creation of a fully sufficient model of studies of humanities disciplines will be a good start in reforming university education in general; specifically, the creation of new courses and course books could potentially have importance for the entire nation.

"The building of the university campus requires much effort and material cost," said Father Borys Gudziak, Ph.D., rector of the LTA. "Yet, the most responsible task is to ensure that our university preserves the Christian spirit according to the dreams and plans of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and Patriarch Josyf Slipyj."

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