St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, Inc has resumed charitable English-language programs in Zazdrist
From July 19 to 24, the Josyf Slipyj Memorial Museum in Zazdrist, Ternopil region, hosted a charitable English Language program offered to 23 students of the Odesa Naval Lyceum named after Vice Admiral V. Bezkorovaynyi (ONL). The program was organized and sponsored by St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, Inc.
The first thematic block “You Will Be My Witnesses,” coordinated by the Head of the Patriarchal Commission for Youth Affairs, Bishop Bryan Bayda, was aimed at training English-speaking Christian camp counselors. For three days, young men and women deepened their knowledge of Christian leadership and missionary service; participated in seminars, discussions, joint prayers and spiritual practices; watched the film “The Spitfire Grill” followed by discussion; visited the Marian Spiritual Center in Zarvanytsia; worked on developing skills in conducting English-language Christian camps; prepared a program for a summer English-language camp; showed their singing talents during a karaoke evening. The cadets congratulated the bishop on his upcoming 65th birthday anniversary.
The second thematic block focused on spoken language. Lyceum students participated in grammar, phonetics, reading, and listening classes; watched and discussed “The Hidden Figures” movie; met with a philanthropist and founder of the Victoria School in Ternopil, Victoria Prokopchenko; prayed in English. A highlight of the week was the World Poetry Night, during which poems were recited in English, Polish, Italian, Spanish, French, and Ukrainian. The classes were prepared and conducted by the President of St. Sophia Association, Iryna Ivankovych, and ONL teachers Tetyana Vetlynska and Maryna Atrokhova.
Since 2018, ONL lyceum students have participated in charitable summer English schools, intensive courses in preparation for external examinations, master classes for English-speaking Christian animators, and online English lessons — programs initiated and sponsored by the St. Sophia Association.
According to Iryna Ivankovych, “after a break forced by the pandemic and war, St. Sophia is happy to return to charitable academic initiatives in Ukraine. We hope to restore the regularity of all educational programs that have brought life to the complex. We believe that the time that the young men and women spent in the homeland of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj was not only an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of English, but also to immerse themselves in the peace of this special place while contemplating the words of the Confessor of Faith: ‘Evil will not last forever.’
As previously reported, St. Sophia Association of the USA has been organizing charitable educational projects at the memorial complex in Zazdrist since 2015. These are English-language schools for youth from underprivileged categories, children of military personnel, forcibly displaced persons, and seminarians of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; workshops for the School of ESL Christian Animators; retreats and methodological seminars for English teachers; and intensive courses in preparation for the external English-language exam for ONL. The Association is also actively working in the field of education in the USA, organizing academic evenings on Ukrainian studies topics, scholarly conferences, symposia, round tables, as well as expanding the publishing sector of its activities. Since 2016, St. Sophia has been organizing annual summer Christian camps, and since 2023, the School of Noble Youth has been operating under the aegis of the Association.
St. Sophia Press Bureau
