Ukrainian Catholic University

Overview

The Ukrainian Catholic University was created as the successor to the Greek Catholic Theological Academy created during 1928-1929 by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky in Lviv, at the time part of Poland. Josyf Slipyj became the academy's first rector. After its closure in 1944, the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome, founded in 1963, continued the academy's functions under the leadership of Metropolitan Slipyj. In 1994, the original school was recreated under the name of Lviv Theological Academy, and in 1998, it became internationally recognized by the Congregation for Catholic Education. Then on June 28, 2002, the Ukrainian Catholic University was founded on the basis of the Academy.

Beginning and turmoil

On October 6, 1929, the Greek Catholic Theological Academy was founded in Lviv. Under the guidance of rector Joseph Slipyj, the Academy became the center for theological and philosophic studies almost overnight.

By the time when largely Ukrainian populated Eastern Galicia was under the control of interwar Poland, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church attained a strong Ukrainian national character; and since the Polish authorities did not allow the creation of a secular Ukrainian university, as that would have impeded their Polonization policies, the Academy became the sole Ukrainian institution of higher education on the territory of the Second Polish Republic. For the next ten years, the Academy continued to grow and expand by opening new departments, enlarging its library, and increasing its publishing capacity.

In September 1939, as a result of the Eastern Galicia falling under the Soviet control, the Theological Academy was closed and its students arrested or deported. On September 15, 1941, shortly after the onset of the German invasion of the USSR the Academy's Church of the Holy Spirit and the library were ruined by the German bombings. Limited studies resumed under German occupation during the Second World War. Out of 500 students who studied at the Academy between 1941–1944, only 60 received diplomas. After the Red Army offensive recovered Lviv to the Soviets in the spring of 1945, the Theological Academy was closed, this time for decades, while many of its graduates and professors ended up in the Gulag system of prison camps. Soon afterwards at the Lviv Synod held in March 1946 under the pressure of the Soviet authorities the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was forcibly "united" with the recently recreated Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the theological education under the UGCC, which formally "ceased to exist" in the USSR (but in reality was banned), was restricted to the underground as well as the entire UGCC as a whole. This period is known as the Church of the Catacombs in UGCC history.

Renewal

A new chapter in the UCU history began after Ukraine attained its independence in the wake of the 1991 Soviet collapse. In September 1994, the Lviv Theological Academy (LTA) was opened. In 1998, the LTA was recognized by the Congregation for Catholic Education.

First graduation took place in the summer of 1999. Twenty-eight graduates received their degrees during the commencement ceremonies. This marked a significant milestone for the school as well as for the theological education in Ukraine in general. For the first time:

Ukrainian Catholic University

The UCU came to existence on the foundation prepared for it by the Lviv Theological Academy. On his visit to Ukraine on June 26, 2001, Pope John Paul II blessed the future university's cornerstone.

The Ukrainian Catholic University was founded on June 29, 2002. The founding is seen by the university community as a culmination of efforts by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) and Ukrainian academics to create an educational institution, which would grow on the foundation of "Christian spirituality, culture and worldview".

"I consider this project one of the most successful in the field of Ukrainian education", said Vyacheslav Bryukhovetskyy, President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, after the establishment of the Lviv Theological Academy and its subsequent transformation into the Ukrainian Catholic University.

In cooperation with the Institute of Religion and Society of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Catholic University established and runs the Religious Information Service of Ukraine with multilanguage Web Portal. In 2004, the Institute of Ecumenical Studies was established by the Senate of the Ukrainian Catholic University.