UCU is a family: Stories of four graduates of the university

In three decades, Ukrainian Catholic University has grown a number of times: New faculties have appeared, buildings, a campus. But the university’s greatest value remains unchanged: people. Their stories are a mosaic of faith, courage, and leadership which reflects the university’s spirit: Projects are created here, professions changed, friends found. This is a place you want to come back to. Here are four stories of graduates of the Lviv Theological Academy/UCU from various years.

Olha Zarichynska has been involved with UCU for almost 30 years, and for seven of those she headed the Development Department. A graduate of the Theology Faculty of the Lviv Theological Academy (2000), she is now Director of Development at the UCU Foundation in the USA.

 

Her path to the Lviv Theological Academy began not with documents but with an internal conviction: “I should be there.” In 1994 there were the first retreats with the late Fr. Henri Nouwen, small groups, and discussions about the establishment of the academy; and in Olha’s heart, the feeling of belonging to something great was born, though still not fully understood.

Her parents were against it. Ternopil was far away. Money was limited. But she decided not to betray the call, and when she found out that there would be a second round of admissions, she simply said at home “I’m going.” The first to believe in and support her was her brother.

“For me, it was always a visionary calling, that I should be here. And, after that, I always felt that I was in the right place,” said Olha Zarichynska.

At the Lviv Theological Academy, every day brought something new, unexpected, important.

 

“From the first day of classes, I felt that every day I would learn something new. And then I had the desire not only to study, but to do – to initiate, to create, to respond to needs,” Olha Zarichynska recalled.

The university became the place where she was formed, both as a student and as a leader. First she organized celebrations, student government, and then attempts to work on solving systemic problems, creating a new management culture in Ukraine, in particular in the Church. This idea from her diploma work gradually transformed into a real program and, eventually, into creating the Lay Leadership Center, which eventually became UCU’s Institute of Leadership and Management.

“I saw a great need: Things should not rely on one person’s charism in order to work. There needs to be a system, and I am very glad that it’s at UCU that this idea was able to take root, because where, if not at UCU, should projects for the country like this be run?” Olha Zarichynska shared.

Olha Zarichynska today lives in Philadelphia (USA) and is Director of Development at the UCU Foundation in the USA. The team helps collect donations from donors, many of whom have found out about Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war and felt the importance of UCU. But each of her visits to Lviv is a return home, to contacts that have not been broken, though they now go across an ocean.

 

“I spent my whole life at the university. I never saw UCU as work. It was always a mission. So it wasn’t difficult for me to sacrifice more than my workday demanded. UCU is a family. Abroad, I really miss this contact,” Olha Zarichynska said.

“When someone says: ‘I also studied at UCU,’ even if it was a short-term program, I immediately feel something. It’s like we are of the same blood, because that thread unites us. And if we’ve found each other, it means we can do something together. It’s already not merely an acquaintance. It’s a community,” emphasized Olha Zarichynska.
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Petro Didula was a member of the first graduating class of the Lviv Theological Academy (LTA), a journalist, teacher, and for many years the curator of media projects at UCU. For more than 20 years he, together with the university, has been creating a community of trust.

 

Petro was in the first class of the Theological Academy (LTA). But his entrance was not the result of dreams or planning. It all started accidentally, more specifically, with an interview that was supposed to gather short journalistic material about a new university in Lviv. The meeting with Borys Gudziak, currently Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia and President of UCU, at that time not even a priest, was a turning point.

“I came to do an interview and planned to finish the discussion in 15 minutes. But at a certain point, I understood that it wasn’t I who was conducting the interview but Borys. He started to ask me about my children, journalism, the Church… And at a certain moment he suggested I enter the LTA. I then had two children, an unfinished house, debts, and five houses ahead of mine waiting for plastering. But I applied,” recalled Petro Didula.

It was a spontaneous but exceptionally successful decision. Petro Didula remembered: “I simply walked home from the editorial office to Riasne [his neighborhood in Lviv]. And as I arrived, I already knew that I would apply. I came home and told my wife, Natalia: ‘I’m going to enter the Theological Academy.’ She responded: ‘Go for it!’”

 

It was not a typical student story, but the story of an adult man, with family, responsibilities, another style of life. But it was that kind of experience, at the intersection of the Church and the world, journalism and plastering, fatherhood and studies. He also helped create the unique atmosphere of the first years of the Theological Academy.

“We came with a different kind of motivation. We wanted to get to know God. And then later it was necessary to study for this. Really study. No cheating, no fiction. And that was a deep transformation,” shared Petro Didula. He recalled that study was not easy: classical Greek, philosophy, academic integrity. Even with the experience of journalism he wasn’t ready for this. But the most important thing that sustained him then — and still does — was the community.

“For me, UCU is a place to celebrate life. Here were friends, professors who didn’t simply teach us but also guided us. There was a spirit of trust here, and it formed an environment which you wanted to be in,” admitted Petro Didula.

Today he works at UCU, remains part of the community, and sees its changes – large-scale, deep, and sometimes cardinal. With the start of the full-scale war, Petro felt a new calling to priestly ministry, and in 2024 he entered Holy Spirit Seminary in Lviv in the late vocations program: “The most important things remain at UCU: guidance, trust, and celebrating life together. These are three things without which UCU wouldn’t be UCU. And if they remain, it means all is not in vain,” emphasized Petro Didula.

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Vladyslav Hazda graduated from the Master’s in Non-Profit Management Program (2024) and is initiator of a Ukrainian union of managers and head of projects at Mate Academy.

Vladyslav long dreamed about Ukrainian Catholic University. In 11th grade, he and his parents came for a tour. He read about the university on the Internet. He was inspired by what acquaintances had to say. But he did not study there at the bachelor’s level – he didn’t have the scores to get a scholarship. Then he went on another path: the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership, the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and work in the civil sector. But he didn’t forget about UCU. When he saw the Non-Profit Management program, he knew it was time to return to his dream.

“My goal was UCU. There was no Plan B. I knew this was the place for me,” emphasized Vladyslav Hazda.

He won a scholarship, entered the master’s program, and combined studies with full employment at Projector Institute and then Mate Academy. In parallel, he developed a professional community of managers in Ukraine, MetaSpilnota; he launched his own educational course together with the Institute of Leadership and Management of Ukrainian Catholic University to professionalize the field.

“UCU not only gave me instruments. It gave me people who also want to do much, in the right way,” said Vladyslav Hazda.

Today Vlad is working on a doctorate in sociology. He dreams of writing the first Ukrainian-language book about community management, and he is preparing a podcast about communities. But the main thing is that he continues to do what it all started with, building communities that last: “I think UCU now has all the key elements of a community. To begin with, the selection process brings together individuals who already share a common identity. Even if we’re not acquainted, we are at UCU; it’s easy for us to make contact. Secondly, there is much mutual exchange: student initiatives, team tasks, and a space which encourages this. Thirdly, there is structure: from possibilities to support. And there is a Christian component that adds yet one more level of connection. This is an intensive experience which creates true relationships.”

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Marta Shyyko is a journalist, author of a reporting project about women in the war, the mother of two children, and the widow of slain Hero Rostyslav Shyyko. Her story didn’t begin at UCU, but UCU became the place that helped her rediscover herself.

 

Her childhood was among books, rivers, trampolines, and grandmother’s stories.

“It was absolute freedom. And it was childhood that laid the foundation for this feeling of freedom,” recalled Marta.

Marta Shyyko’s first degree was in Bulgarian philology. She worked in international companies as a translator and manager but felt she had a different calling. She returned from Portugal to Ukraine and, after losing her husband, who died in the war, in nine months became a journalism student at UCU. At 30 years. As a widow. In the darkest period of her life.

“At some point, I understood that I couldn’t breathe in Portugal. There was war in Ukraine. But my husband was on the frontlines. I simply bought a ticket and returned,” Marta Shyyko recalled.

A few months later, her husband was slain. “My faith kept me going. Studies kept me going. That was my goal. And that pulled me through,” she said.

Marta’s story is not about overcoming pain. It’s about a community that didn’t turn away.

“I was looking for a place where I didn’t have to explain. And I found it, in the library, outside, among people who shared my silence. If I were asked what started it all, I would say UCU. Here they helped me see the gifts I have. And they gave great support on this path,” emphasized Marta Shyyko.

Study at UCU became a turning point: a course in creative writing, the support of professors and classmates, her first reporting, publications, and participation in art projects. It was at the university that Marta Shyyko had the courage to start writing, and she found meaning in this.
“It was within the walls of Catholic University that I first found such a great, sincere expression of humaneness, acceptance, and mutual help,” she stated.

Today she not only studies but she works on her own reporting projects, about women who survive war, loss, and isolation, and remain alive. Her texts are full of content. She dreams that all people will be able to rejoice and learn to rejoice, even in the most difficult times.
Source: UCU Alumni Association