U.S. defense secretary visits Kyiv - The Ukrainian Weekly

20 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2001
No. 23
Lviv Theological Academy...
(Continued from page 3)
Today, even without either formal licensing
or accreditation, the LTA is graduating
highly educated students who are pursuing
advanced degrees abroad at the great
Western universities in countries like the
United States, Canada, Italy, Poland and
Australia.
The academy also has a well-established
and highly regarded English-language program,
which includes a very popular summer
course taught in a relaxed atmosphere
at various tourist resorts in the Carpathian
Mountains. All students of the LTA must
gain proficiency in English.
Already recognized by the Vatican as a
school of theology, today the academy is
very close to achieving university status.
The recent visit by the vice-rector of the
Pontifical Oriental Institute should result in
a recommendation to do just that.
European standards require that an institution
of higher learning with university status
have at least three faculties. Currently
the LTA has a single philosophy-theology
faculty, but a school of history-philology
will open in September, to be followed in a
year by a school of social sciences, which
will include courses in sociology, psychology
and political science. The academy
hopes eventually to develop a
pedagogical/catechetical faculty, and a
school of social work as well.
One of the more unique aspects of the
LTA is the high percentage of women students.
Although theology has historically
been a male domain, about 45 percent of
LTA’s student population of 1,200 is female.
As the Rev. Gudziak explained, the women
who belonged to the LTA’s first graduating
class in 1998 were the first females to
receive degrees in theology in the more than
1,000-year history of Ukrainian
Christianity.
In the last two years about 35-40 of the
academy’s 90 graduates have been women.
They have gone on to become teachers,
social workers, school administrators and,
of course, nuns.
Today the LTA’s student composition
also contains a good mix of non-Catholic
faithful. While the school does not ask for
confessional background, it believes that
approximately 10 percent to 15 percent of
the student body is Orthodox.
The faculty also is diverse, including
Greek-Catholic, Roman Catholic, Orthodox
and Orthodox Jewish instructors and professors.
One of the LTA’s central responsibilities
is to educate future priests. Because the program
for clerics takes six and a half years,
members of the first class, which consisted
of 38 students, only recently received their
degrees. The Rev. Gudziak noted that the
first graduate to become a priest, one of
three thus far, celebrated his first liturgy
since being ordained on May 6.
“Now there is going to be a stream of
them,” he added.
The Lviv Theological Academy began
offering courses in September 1994 after a
forced hiatus of 49 years. In 1945 Soviet
authorities closed the school, which was
founded in 1929, after the Communist government
reasserted control over western
Ukraine at the close of World War II. The
school was dealt a similar blow in 1939
when the Soviet Union took control over
western Ukraine after the signing of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but was
reopened and allowed to offer limited
courses during the German occupation.
The Ukrainian National Association
Congratulates all
Fathers, Grandfathers and
Great-grandfathers,
and wishes each and every one
MNOHAYA LITA
Come with your family and celebrate UNA’s Traditional Father’s Day
on Sunday, June 17, 2001
at SOYUZIVKA
10:00 AM
Divine Liturgy at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church
and
St. Volodymyr’s Ukrainian Orthodox Chapel at Soyuzivka
12:00 noon
Special Father’s Day Luncheon
2:30 PM
FREE ARTISTIC PROGRAM for ALL
Ukrainian Dance Ensemble “SYZOKRYLI”
Roma Pryma Bohachevsky – Director Choreographer
“CHERESHENKY DUET”
For reservations to the luncheon please call SOYUZIVKA
Tel: 845 626-5641
Insure and be sure. Join the UNA!
New York judge...
(Continued from page 4)
sented a statement to the court expressing
their gratitude for the court’s decision. The
full text of the statement presented to the
court by Myroslaw Smorodsky, follows.
* * *
Yesterday marked the 56th anniversary
of the end of one of the greatest cataclysms
known to mankind: World War II came to
an end on the European continent. During
this savage conflagration, millions of people
were eradicated in the Holocaust, millions
died on the battlefields and millions of others
were forcibly deported to slave and
forced labor camps to fuel the Nazi war
machine.
Today, nearly six decades after “physical”
peace was achieved, we are seeking to
find “legal” peace. Towards this end, this
court has now removed one of the last hurdles
in the process of obtaining some modicum
of compensation for those survivors
who lost not only their assets, but also their
freedom; compensation for those who were
deported from their homelands to be slaves
for an inhuman war machine.
The Central and East European
Delegations (Belarus, the Czech Republic,
Poland, the Russian Federation, and
Ukraine) appreciate and recognize this
court’s continued concern for all the victims
of World War II. We also appreciate and
recognize this court’s efforts to help find a
MARK T. OLESNICKY, M.D.
Internal Medicine
135 Columbia Turnpike, Suite 203
Florham Park, NJ 07932
Telephone (973) 822-5000 • Fax (973) 822-3321
By Appointment
modality to give even the unrepresented
victims their fair chance at receiving compensation.
It was understandable that this court
needed to find a balance between just compensation
for as many survivors as possible
and achieving this in a timely fashion –
while the victims it sought to compensate
were still alive. Achieving this goal was no
easy task, as is evidenced by the record in
the cases before this honorable court.
As such, we are pleased that the Central
and East European Delegations and their
attorneys were able to suggest to this court
a fair and equitable resolution to the
court’s dilemma. We are equally grateful
that this court found our proposals satisfactory
in achieving the goals of this court
and justice for all those who suffered during
World War II.
We regret that rhetoric by others may
not have accurately reflected the true aims
of this court. However, after today’s decision,
we believe that Germany can swiftly
proceed to fund the foundations’ compensation
programs for the many victims that
never received any payments in the past.
We now look to the German Bundestag to
recognize that after 56 years “legal peace”
has now been achieved and to expeditiously
initiate compensation payments – especially
since hundreds of survivors are
dying daily.
On behalf of over 1.5 million Central and
East European survivors, we respectfully
thank the court for today’s decision.