Ukrainian Catholic University Enters New Stage

Established in 2002, the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv is now entering its second stage of growth. New Pathway’s Olena Wawryshyn spoke to the UCU’s rector Rev. Borys Gudziak about new developments at the UCU when he was in Canada last month to finalize details of a new professorship in memory of the late Dr. Teodor Dziubanowsky of Windsor.  The American-born rector, who holds a PhD from Harvard University, has lived in Ukraine since the late 1980s.  He was instrumental in re-opening the Lviv Theological Academy in 1994, which had been closed since 1939, and oversaw its development into the Ukrainian Catholic University in 2002.

 NP: What does Dr. Dziubanowsky’s gift mean to the UCU?

Rev. BG: His gift [established with the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation] will finance up to two individuals in the Theology Faculty.  Many young people will reap the benefits of this generous gesture. It comes at a very important time because our institution is reaching the second stage of growth. We now have just over 400 graduates. Of these, over a 100 are serving as priests and about 30 as sisters, but a large number are also laymen and laywomen. Many have attended graduate schools, specializing in Theology or related disciplines. About 130 have won scholarships throughout the world to universities in Ottawa, Oxford, Paris, Rome, Netherlands, Belgium and others.

The important thing is that they want to come back to Ukraine. There has been a flight of young Ukrainians, who left for jobs. But, at UCU, we have  a remarkable statistic; many of our students and graduates have gone for summer internships abroad and only one has not returned. So, now these people, with between 2 and 6 years of graduate studies, are coming back to Ukraine with world-class degrees and qualifications.

There are about 60 people teaching, but most of them are still at a junior level.  Some of them are just arriving at the level where they can carry the  title of Professor.

Dr. Dziabanowsky’s contribution means that somebody who otherwise could not work in Ukraine, who is very talented and well trained, will have a decent salary and be able to work in the Faculty at the UCU.

NP: What courses are offered?

Rev. BG: The UCU is a Liberal Arts university. We have a Faculty of Theology, Letters, the Humanities and Religious Pedagogy (an education program in religious issues).  Students can get degrees in Philosophy, Theology, History and Social Pedagogy. We offer a small number of majors but each is interdisciplinary.

There is a tremendous emphasis on languages. Many students study between six and eight languages. They know Ukrainian, most know Russian, many study Polish, and everybody studies English. They also choose a second modern European language–either German, French or Italian­–though we have students learning Japanese and Armenian. In addition, all the Theology students learn Greek, Latin and Church Slavonic.

The basic idea of a Liberal Arts curriculum is that you do a major and you have a specialization, but more important is a general formation of the student, who becomes a person who can see problems, analyse them, arrive at solutions, communicate those solutions and create a team, to work on projects and problem-solving. So there is a lot of leadership training, considerable extra-curricular activity and a lot of charitable activity. As a result, a number of our graduates go into Political Science or Sociology.

NP: Theology has recently been licensed as an academic discipline in Ukraine; what are the implications for the UCU?

Rev. BG: UCU students now have normal civil right as students. A student of Theology, until recently, was not considered a “student” because the person was studying something that “does not exist.” They could not get student discounts on buses or inner-city travel, and had a second-class status in terms of social benefits. Upon finishing, even though they have a very good education, know languages, how to use computers and set up an office, they could get no job in the government sector, (which in the post-communist economy is still very big), in the social-service or educational sectors because they did not have a state-recognized diploma. So, this really opened up a tremendous opportunity for Theology graduates.

On a more theoretical level, this recognition means that Theology is returning to the public square.

NP: What is the role of the UCU?

Rev. BG: Witness, or to put it another way: “example.”  I do not have the resources, the strength or even the desire to force you to do something but I will do it in such a way that will encourage you to do likewise.

We are small and, as a private university, can never be big. There are a total of about 900 students at UCU: about 500 full time, 400 part-time. There are 100,000 students in the city of Lviv alone, so our student body is less than one per cent. We receive no government funds. Our students mostly come from poorer classes; the large majority can attend only thanks to generous donations.

We cannot grow, but we can try to maintain an exceptional quality–academic and intellectual–but also quality of service, responsibility and keeping to principles. Those are some of the things that were manifest during the Orange Revolution, where out of 120 universities, only three–Lviv National University, the Mohyla Academy and UCU–took a stance for the unconditional freedom for students to vote as he or she chooses. In the social sphere, we will not do a great quantity of work, but if the activity of the students and graduates can be a beacon and create hope and examples for others, then that modality of witness will be multiplied by those who get inspired by a new kind of involvement in society.

In many spheres our students and staff excel. For example, at this year’s annual Lviv Book Forum in September, where 700 publishers, representing universities, academies, institutes and commercial presses in Ukraine bring their most recent publications, our book on Ivan Franko was deemed “Book of the Year.”

The book, called Ivan Franko Biblia Apocrypha, is about biblical apocryphical texts. Franko dedicated a tremendous amount of time to studying the apocryphical biblical text as it existed in Church Slavonic in Ukraine. One of our faculty members did a study of his research on this subject and addressed the question: How did his study of apocrypha affect his literary production? 

NP: What are the next steps in the School of Theology's development?

Rev. BG: We have a new building, a 50,000-square-foot facility for the Theology Faculty, which was supported almost exclusively by non-Ukrainian donors.  We would like to now create 20 chairs. We already have one chair. The one financed by Dr. Dziabnowsky’s donation will be the second fully endowed chair.  For 20 chairs we will need an endowment of a total of 5 million dollars US. That will basically allow for the secured existence of the Theology Faculty in perpetuity. We hope that others follow Dr. Dziabanowsky’s example, either in life or in their wills, and designate a considerable sum for the endowment of a chair.

NP: How are you raising funds?

Rev. BG: We’re speaking with individuals. Most of our funding has come from outside Ukraine, but we are beginning to approach the new class of wealthy Ukrainians. Most of our funding from outside of Ukraine comes from non-Ukrainians. We have received many grants from Roman Catholic and some private foundations.  In the United States, where our foundation is the most developed, 60 per cent of the donors are non-Ukrainians. It is a cause and an institution that we hope will transcend just Ukrainian concerns and needs.  We hope to serve the Ukrainian community in Canada and in North America, wherever Ukrainians are, but also to address some of the global needs that all people in the 21st century have.

NP: How else can people support the UCU ?

Rev. BG: We have summer schools at which Ukrainians from communities at large can participate either as students or faculty. For example, we have an English-language summer school, and we are always looking for volunteers to teach English. It runs for about one month in the foothills of the Carpathians.  We invite Ukrainian Canadians to visit us when they are in Lviv.