Bishop Borys Gudziak, President of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv and a leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, will present the Keeley Vatican Lecture on Tuesday, November 1, in McKenna Hall (lower level). A complimentary buffet lunch will be available at 12:00 noon. The buffet will close promptly at 12:30 p.m. for the lecture.
Sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Bishop Gudziak’s lecture, entitled “Ukraine, Democratic Revolution, and the Challenges of a Catholic University,” is free and open to the public.
A. James McAdams, director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, describes Bishop Gudziak as “a major figure in the Eastern Catholic Church who has demonstrated that it is possible to create a vibrant Catholic community in a country previously ruled by a dictatorship.”
Bishop Gudziak was born in the United States to Ukrainian parents. After earning dual degrees in philosophy and biology at Syracuse University, he studied theology and ecclesiastical sciences at the Pontificia Università Urbaniana and went on to earn his Ph.D. in Slavic and Byzantine Cultural History from Harvard University in 1992. He then moved permanently to Lviv, Ukraine, where he was ordained in 1998, joined a commission for the revival of the Lviv Theological Academy, founded a new Institute of Church History, and became the Rector (and later President) of the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Gudziak has been a prominent leader in higher education in Ukraine after years of communist regime. An important voice in the “Orange Revolution” (2004-2005), which occurred in response to a controversial election decided in favor of Viktor Yanukovych, Gudziak also played a key role in Ukraine’s peaceful demonstrations in the Maidan of Kiev in 2013.
McAdams notes that Gudziak “has presented Ukrainian citizens with a vivid image of how to live with integrity and honor in a country still struggling with the vestiges of communism. He exhibited extraordinary leadership in the founding of the Ukrainian Catholic University and has inspired a generation of Ukrainian students and scholars.”
In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Bishop Gudziak to the Paris Eparchy of Saint Volodymyr the Great, the territorial diocese for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The Ukrainian Catholic Church is a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See.
The Keeley Vatican Lecture was established by the generosity of Terrence R. Keeley (‘81) to bring distinguished representatives from the Vatican to explore questions involving Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.
Parking for the Lecture at McKenna Hall (Notre Dame Conference Center)
- Free parking is available at the C1 lot off of Holy Cross Drive. A free campus shuttle bus (south route) will pick up at intersection of Holy Cross Drive and Joyce Drive every 15 minutes starting at 11:00 a.m. and will drop off at the Notre Dame Conference Center (McKenna Hall, building 1079) before the event.
- Accessible parking for vehicles with a state approved license plate or hang tag is located by McKenna Hall off of Notre Dame Avenue (building 1079).
- Valet parking is available at the Morris Inn for $10. The Notre Dame Conference Center at McKenna Hall is located directly across the street from the Morris Inn.
- Additional parking can be found off-campus across Edison Road at Eddy Street Commons. Parking is free the first two hours.
Lunch and Seating
- Buffet luncheon will begin at 12:00 noon.
- Please be seated at the tables after going through the buffet line.
- The buffet will close promptly at 12:30 p.m for the start of the lecture.
- Guest are encouraged to dine during the lecture.