New UCU Residence Blessed, Rector Made Bishop

August 26 was a busy day in the city of Lviv, Ukraine. In the morning, the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) became Bishop Borys Gudziak, ordained by His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, in St. George’s Cathedral. Then in the late afternoon Bishop Gudziak and the patriarch blessed the university’s new “collegium,” residential college, UCEF informs.

Bishop Borys expresses his gratitude to all in a Ukrainian-language speech here

“Today we are blessing a unique structure,” said Patriarch Shevchuk in his greeting. “Our church and, in particular, UCU are receiving a necessary instrument for the formation of laypeople. The collegium is not just a dormitory. A community will be built here. In addition to providing higher, advanced education, the church will give the faith to your children and form them to become good Christians, active lay people who will be able to start many initiatives and take responsibility.”

Bishop Gudziak explained that the collegium is part of UCU’s effort to rethink the phenomenon of the university in the 21st century. Administrators and professors will join the students there. Also a community of Redemptorist nuns and a L’Arche community of developmentally disabled persons and their helpers. There are also plans for four guest apartments for visiting diplomats, politicians, artists, and intellectuals, who will share in the life of the community.