PATRIARCH SVIATOSLAV SPEAKS AT SHEPTYTSKY INSTITUTE BANQUET AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Julie Daoust
Friday, May 2, the Canada Room at Brennan Hall at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto was packed with leaders of the Ukrainian community and university officials, as Patriarch Sviatoslav delivered a riveting address during a fund-raiser for the Sheptytsky Institute. The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church spoke on the value of higher education and the quest for a relationship with a God who wants to be known. He also spoke of the under-reported religious dimensions of the Maidan. Shevchuk noted how the movement was transformed from a pro-European protest into an incubator of human dignity. In Kyiv, religious leaders of various Christian communities, as well as Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams, lead the people in prayer and the transformations that occurred there.
Patriarch Sviatoslav addressed the role of the diaspora, reminding his audience that the UkrainianGreco-Catholic Church is not a Church simply for Ukrainians. It is “a Church that comes from the Ukrainian people, but is for the entire human race.” That is what makes it a Christian Church.
His Beatitude was introduced by Dr. Andrew Bennett, Ambassador of the Canadian Office of Religious Freedom. Bennett is the former Vice-President of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute Foundation (MASIF). He is also a subdeacon in the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church and, like the Patriarch, an alumnus of the Sheptytsky Institute. Shevchuk attended the Institute’s Summer Program at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in California in 1995.
Patriarch Sviatoslav reflected on the need to fully support the Sheptytsky Institute. Since 1986 the Institute has been preparing men and women, clergy and lay people, for lives of service and leadership. The Institute offers fully accredited degree programs in Eastern Christian Studies from the undergraduate certificate level through to the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Shevchuk cited the Institute’s motto, “Serving for the Future, Leading with Tradition.” He stressed that he endorsed this motto, “though it is a lot to live up to.” Speaking of the diaspora’s relationship with Ukraine, he emphasized that the diaspora’s role is “not just to survive for Ukraine, but to live,” that is, to thrive in North America. The diaspora must demand and work towards a living, dynamic, life-giving Church that can nourish it in the West. He said: “In Ukraine we have the Ukrainian Catholic University, in the diaspora, you have the Sheptytsky Institute. The Institute trains leaders.” He asked those assembled to support the Institute.
Towards the end of his engaging talk, Patriarch Sviatoslav hinted obliquely at the conversations that have been held recently about the possibility of the relocation of the Sheptytsky Institute: “Why is my first public event in the Toronto Eparchy at a university? Because I believe that we Eastern Christians, Catholic and Orthodox, have something life-giving to offer to one of the great universities of the world. I believe that the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, which has resolutely proven itself in the last 28 years, is excellently positioned to do the offering.” The crowd of some 250 rose to their feet and gave the patriarch a lengthy standing ovation. The full text of the Patriarch’s speech can be found at www.royaldoors.net. In the first day after it was uploaded, the website reported over 1400 views.
Rev. Michael and Dobrodiyka Oksana Loza of Oakville served as the masters of ceremonies for the evening. Fr. Peter Galadza, chair of the banquet committee, introduced special guests, including the chief patron of the evening, philanthropist James Temerty. He also introduced Hugh MacKinnon, the Chair of the St. Michael’s College Collegium (Board of Directors); Sr. Anne Anderson, CSJ, the president of St. Michael’s College; and a bevy of other dignitaries, including Chrystia Freeland, Member of Parliament.
Andriy Hladyshevsky,QC of Edmonton, the new President of the MASI Foundation, offered a toast to His Beatitude. During the evening, Jason Kenney,Canada's Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism, presented Fr. Peter Galadza, the Acting Director of the Institute, with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for outstanding service to the community.
Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, founder of the Sheptytsky Institute and Peter and Doris Kule Chair of Eastern Christian Theology and Spirituality, rounded out the program with thanks. He fondly remembered his former student, Patriarch Sviatoslav. “As a young priest he struck me as fundamentally gentle and humble as well as incredibly talented,” Fr. Chirovsky said: “This is the kind of leader we would follow to the ends of the earth.”
The evening had been opened with an invocation by Cardinal Thomas Collins, the Archbishop of Toronto and Chancellor of the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. Cardinal Collins added special prayers for Ukraine. The evening concluded with a benediction by Bishop Stephen Chmilar, Eparch of Toronto. Significant assistance in the organization of the event was provided by Mr. Bill Petruck and the staff ofToronto’s Funding matters, Inc.
All present received free copies of two new publications: The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies: Serving for the Future, Leading with Tradition as well as Archbishop Andrei Sheptytsky and the Ukrainian Jewish Bond, both edited by Fr. Peter Galadza. The latter book was generously funded by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter.
