WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bishop Borys Gudziak, president of the Catholic University in Lviv, and who was recently appointed to one of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s (UGCC) most senior positions, visited the U.S. capital the past weekend.
Pope Francis appointed him as Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania on Feb. 8.
Gudziak told the Kyiv Post he is re-acquainting himself with America, where he was born in 1960, and its Ukrainian community, because he has spent most of the last 30 years in Europe.
His last post for six years was as bishop of the Eparchy of St. Volodymyr in Paris, where he was responsible for Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s faithful in Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland as well as France. The church has an estimated 5 million followers globally.
Before that, Gudziak was the founder and rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. The private university has 1,700 students.
Philadelphia is where he will be officially installed in his new post on June 4 by the head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
Pennsylvania is one of the first places in the U.S. where Ukrainians settled from the late 19th century onward taking many jobs in the states heavy industries such as coal mining and steel manufacturing.
Pennsylvania has one of the oldest and largest organized Ukrainian communities in the United States with many UGCC and Orthodox parishes.
He said that in the week before coming to D.C. he visited different parishes in the eparchy and held meetings with some 60 community leaders there.
On March 10, Shevchuk – regarded by many as the UGCC patriarch – and Gudziak celebrated mass at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington.
Many parishioners, including children, wore traditional Ukrainian embroidered blouses and shirts as they welcomed him in their modern church which overlooks the nation’s main Catholic shrine, the Basilica with its more traditional, domed silhouette.
Establishing dialogue
After the mass, Gudziak held a meeting with parishioners over coffee and snacks in the church hall. He mentioned the bitter political divisions straining Western society and said to establish real dialogue was essential so that ordinary people felt their voice meant something.
Referring to the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine, Gudziak explained the importance he placed on communication.
“Many people are going to vote in the election not for someone but against a candidate they know because they feel unheard [by them],” he said. “I want people to tell me what they want their bishop to be doing. I want them to know they will be heard.”
He strolled around the meeting hall talking into a microphone and offering it to listen to the opinions of parishioners sitting at tables in a relaxed discussion that was occasionally punctuated by laughter.
Gudziak said that he hopes that the eight days around his enthronement at Philadelphia’s Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception will promote discussions with the thousands of faithful expected to attend from parishes across the U.S. and further afield.
Known for his intellectual prowess as well as diplomatic and networking skills, Gudziak was credited for much of the success in turning Lviv’s Ukrainian Catholic University into a formidable institute of higher learning and putting it on a sound financial basis.
He told the Kyiv Post how he will divide his time between the U.S. and Ukraine: “I still remain the president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, which means head of the board of directors, and that meets three times a year.
“I’m also a member of the permanent synod of our Church, which meets four times a year. So those responsibilities will take me to Ukraine quite regularly.”
American Catholic University
During his talk he announced a new department of Eastern Christianity being set up by the Catholic University of America’s School of Theology and Religious Studies, in Washington.
The UGCC will contribute $5 million to the department’s work and be closely involved in it. Gudziak said that he will be one of those associated with the development of the studies.
“I think there’s a lot that can be done for intellectual life and for the Ukrainian cause in Washington – it’s the capital of the U.S., it’s the capital of the Free World.
“I think a strong representation of our Church and advocacy for a country that is under invasion and enduring a humanitarian crisis can be made forcefully right here in Washington and I hope to contribute to that.”
