+Sviatoslav at Fordham.

In the midst of a pastoral visit to Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) stopped at one of my old stomping grounds, as reported here:

Fordham conferred an honorary degree on the new head and father of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and honored his predecessor on Nov. 20 at the Rose Hill campus.

His Beatitude Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the new 41-year-old patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, received a doctorate of humane letters, honoris causa, at a ceremony in the University Church. More than 800 members of the Fordham, Catholic and Ukrainian communities filled the sanctuary to capacity.

In the same ceremony, Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan unveiled and blessed a newly installed marble mosaic coat of arms of Ukraine’s patriarch emeritus, His Eminence Lubomyr Cardinal Husar, GSAS ’66, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych. Due to ill health, the cardinal was unable to attend.

. . .

Patriarch Shevchuk, in accepting the honorary degree, made light of his age: He is one of the youngest prelates in the world and has been credited with attracting young, educated and invigorated believers to his church.

"One of my Angelicum professors in Rome used to joke that honorary doctorates are usually given to those people for whom it is too late to get an ordinary one," said the prelate, who holds a doctorate in theology from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and speaks several languages.

The prelate insisted that, while such an honor hardly befitted him, it did indeed befit "the martyred church that I have been called to carry on my shoulders."

"I personally experienced this church when she was despised, scorned and humiliated," said the prelate, who grew up under Communist rule. "But despite all of this, she remained the authentic church of the Risen Christ. So it is this church, to her Christian wisdom and her intellectual life, that these honors befit."

To find out more, click here. AMDG.