Fordham will pay tribute to the former prelate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and his successor at a “Tribute to Ukrainian Catholic Church Leaders” on Sunday, Nov. 20, at the University Church.
Lubomyr Cardinal Husar, GSAS ’66, patriarch emeritus of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, will be honored with an unveiling and blessing of the patriarch’s coat of arms—a marble mosaic recently installed in the University Church sanctuary.
Cardinal Husar began serving as exarch of Kyiv and Vyshhorod in 1995. In December 2000, Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Husar to the post of apostolic administrator of the Ukrainian Greek Major-Archeparchy of Lviv. The following January, the Ukrainian Greek synod elected him major archbishop.
He stepped down this year due to ill health.
His successor, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, was enthroned as prelate on March 27. Archbishop Shevchuk will represent Cardinal Husar at Sunday’s event and will receive an honorary doctorate from Fordham.
DATE: Sunday, Nov. 20
TIME: 4 p.m.
LOCATION: University Church, Rose Hill campus
Prelate Shevchuk, just 40 years old when he was elected, had previously served at the Eparchy of Santa Maria del Patrocinio in Buenos Aires. He is fluent in Ukrainian and Spanish and has a strong command of seven other languages.
This is his first visit to New York.
Cardinal Husar is one of eight cardinals that have had a direct relationship with Fordham as either students or faculty.
Among those in attendance will be Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York; Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations; Archbishop Demetrois, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America; and Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America.
With some 5 million faithful worldwide, the Ukrainian Catholic Church acts as a bridge between Eastern and Western Christianity. It is a minority church in Ukraine, where the Orthodox Church retains wide membership, but is the largest sui juris Eastern church in full communion with the Holy See.
It has been experiencing a resurgence in the Ukraine since the fall of Communism in 1989.
Fordham is co-sponsoring the event with the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation. For more information visit the website.
– Vice President for Mission and Ministry
