New Protohegumen of Ukrainian Redemptorists Elected

On November 28, Fr. Ihor Kolisnyk of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer was elected the new protohegumen of the Lviv Province of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer for the next four years. He replaced the previous protohegumen, Fr. Vasyl Ivaniv.

Father Ihor Kolisnyk was born on March 26, 1976, in the city of Ternopil. After he left secondary school, in 1993, he entered the Lviv Province of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer. He studied theology in the Papal Theological Academy in Krakow and in Innsbruck University in Austria. In 1999 he took monastic vows and in 2000 was ordained a priest. Later, he worked in the Parish of St. Yosafat in Lviv.

In 2001-2006, he studied philosophy at the University of Innsbruck and was conferred a master's degree in philosophy. Upon completion of his studies, for two years he provided pastoral care for Ukrainians in Canada (Winnipeg), where he served together with the brethren from the Yorkton Province of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer.

In 2008 he was elected as a member of the Board of the Lviv Province of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer and was sent by the Redemptorist community's hegumen to the town of Novoiavorivsk where he was the senior priest of the local church.   During those years, he conducted numerous missions and retreats in the United States, Italy, Canada and Ukraine. In 2009 he was elected delegate of the 24th General Chapter of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer in Rome.

He speaks German, English and Polish.