On October 30 a charity auction and banquet will be held in the capital’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. The Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) has organized the event for three consecutive years already in order to find support for its educational programs and its development as an institution. Now, the UCU’s big goal is to build a campus. It will be constructed in parts. Initially, a multifunctional academic building accommodating study and office space, such as the dean’s office, teachers’ offices, student canteen, etc. will be built. According to the rector Fr. Borys Gudziak, this first stage will take five years. However, the dormitory is scheduled to be finished by the Euro-2012. It will possibly serve as a hotel for tourists during the championship. A church located in the center will be the main building on campus. A library, an information center, a museum, and a hotel will appear nearby. The budget has not yet been finally approved, as it is estimated individually for each building. We know that there are a few patrons from Western Europe who are ready to finance 15-20 percent of the construction. The UCU is looking for the rest on its own.
By the way, on September 5 the Primate of the Greek Catholics, His Beatitude Liubomyr (Husar), participated in the solemn foundation consecration ceremony. “This university is one of few universities which are preparing a spiritual elite for our state and church,” said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “Its graduates are not only skilled workers, they also possess spiritual culture and see the world through the prism of spiritual values, which we need so badly right now.” Let’s recall that the UCU is the successor of the Theological Academy in Lviv, founded in 1928 by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
Last year about two hundred important guests attended the charity banquet. His Beatitude Liubomyr (Husar), apostolic nuncio in Ukraine Archbishop Ivan Yurkovich, Austria’s Ambassador to Ukraine Josef Markus-Wuketich, CEO of Kraft Foods Ukraine Yurii Lohush, director of the Polish Institute in Kyiv Jerzy Onuch, and others were among the honored guests. The UCU gathered 115,000 dollars.
14 September 2010, The Day