The Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation was founded in response to a growing need to financially and practically assist the needs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, specifically in the area of education. Conceived in 2001 after the success of UCEF in the USA, the Canadian branch of UCEF was officially founded in 2002 and has been a registered Canadian charity since early 2005. In early 2009 UCEF Incorporated and will be actively expanding it fund raising and activities on a national level!

For more information on our Foundation please contact our office directly.

UCEF sends out regular newsletters in both Ukrainian and English. We can also provide them for your church or community group. Please contact our office to be added to our mailing list. Kindly specify your language preference and the number of newsletters you would like to receive.

Charitable Registration # 82224 5098 RR0001

 

Dear Friends of UCEF:

Christ is among us!

 

As I put pen to paper to jot down a few thoughts before writing this message, I found some emotions welling up inside. My mind and heart retraced the 15 inspirational years that I have been associated with the Ukrainian Catholic University. I began as the director of their first English Summer Schools and then was graciously invited to join the regular staff. Besides the honour of serving the university community as Chaplain and as a lecturer in Canon Law, I served as Vice Rector for six years. I witnessed the insuppressible enthusiasm of the first staff and students in the initial challenging years and I celebrated the bold leap of the institution from the Theological Academy to Ukrainian Catholic University. That momentum hasn't let up to this very day.

The University has expanded greatly over the years. In terms of enrolment, it has outgrown its facilities twice and in three locations. As programs develop and more and more applications come in, the necessity to expand to meet the increasing demand is always a concern. As the only Catholic university in the former Soviet Union, the prospects for growth of the Ukrainian Catholic University are unprecedented for a post-secondary institution of this calibre. The teaching faculty has always been world-class, with academic conferences at the university attracting leading scholars from around the world. Indeed the recent growth in numbers of foreign students across all departments is a sign that the good reputation of UCU is spreading.

At UCEF we want very much to support the work of this truly extraordinary institution that is already making a big difference in Ukraine and in the surrounding countries, which benefit tremendously from having this courageous institution in their midst. Staff and students at UCU form a bright beacon of testimony to the fact that even in truly troubled times young men and women can dedicate themselves to building up a better society. They stood with a loving defiance before the troops at the Orange Revolution. At UCU, they apply that same resolve to strive for the best possible academic education. They gather voluntarily, even daily, in the chapels of the university to renew their focus in prayer. (And few choirs, if any, in the world will lift your soul right up into the presence of God like the mixed group of singers at the university!)

Students from the Ukrainian Catholic University are making a difference already in chancery offices throughout the country and in the offices of government and various businesses and organizations in Ukraine and beyond its borders. Many students have achieved scholarships - some of which were provided through the generosity of our own UCEF donors - in order to study abroad at some of the world's finest universities. They have returned to Ukraine and will continue to return to build a better society and bring hope to a world that so thirsts for some optimism.

On behalf of the truly wonderful people working for the success of UCEF-Canada, both the Board members and the administrative staff, I want to thank you for your support. I further want to encourage you to look deeper into the Ukrainian Catholic University. Check the internet resources; ask around. Even better, plan your next vacation to visit the university and even participate in one of their programs as a student or volunteer (really!). You will not be disappointed. I know that you will be inspired for life by the dedication and goodwill and innumerable successes that you will encounter.

Finally, I ask you to consider supporting the work and aspirations of this rare, blessed institution. The Ukrainian Catholic University is the kind of place that you can really believe in and support. You will see your support flower before your eyes as the university grows and touches the lives of more and more people every year. Yet, as the Apostle once wrote, we also say, "You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or if you feel pressured. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully." (2 Corinthians 9:7). May our good Lord bless you and your loved ones.

Fr. Michael Kwiatkowski