US-funded Ad Gentes Ukraine Teaching Mission serves hundreds of Ukrainian Catholic University students
The recently finished annual English Summer School of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv was a bit different this year.
The participation of a team of 12 teaching volunteers from the United States -- that joined a larger core of several dozen North American volunteers -- was made possible this year by Ad Gentes Mission, a Steubenville, OH-based non-profit organization that facilitates student-led mission trips -- from Magadan, Russia to Ireland and Peru via Alaska -- and provides an anchor for missionaries to receive practical, financial, and spiritual support.
"I’ve worked tirelessly to bring the spirit of St. Francis to Ukraine’s English language learners by preparing Franciscan University of Steubenville students and alumni to teach alongside me this summer!" said Caroline Reel, mission leader who also taught at UCU's ESS in 2017.
With 2,716 students as of fall 2015, Franciscan University of Steubenville has the greatest number of students majoring in theology, catechetics, and philosophy of any Catholic university in the United States.
Every summer from late May to early August, UCU welcomes some 400 students from all over the world to its wide variety of courses, mostly within the liberal arts and social sciences. The UCU Summer Schools are an Academic Center for learning in an International context and a forum for fostering intercultural understanding and spiritual growth. The summer programs cover a variety of fields, including both modern and classical languages, as well as themes closely related to UCU’s mission, theology, art, and leadership.
