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LVIV – Four years ago, Frenchman Didier Rance stood at a 42-acre site in suburban Lviv with the Rev. Bohdan Prach, the rector of what was called Lviv Seminary at the time.

“There were mainly goats and grass,” said Mr. Rance, president of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in France. “But he said in four years, we’ll have a seminary open here. It was a dream, of course.”

On August 28, Mr. Rance revisited the former pasture with 21 of his fellow countrymen to admire the dream of Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians realized: the 123,785-square-foot Holy Spirit Seminary and Church of the Holy Spirit.

“There will come a time when we will have all the necessary space and structures, and we will have everything to lead a church life,” Cardinal Husar said in his sermon. “But the most important thing is that we never try to do anything without holy God.”

The Holy Spirit Seminary and Church of the Holy Spirit form the architectural and social focal point of the Ukrainian Catholic University’s (UCU) ever-expanding Center of Theological Education and Formation campus on Khutorivka Street.

The center is a milestone in Ukraine’s higher educational system, making the UCU the largest theological institution of higher education in the country. The center was western Ukraine’s largest construction project during the last four years, university officials said.

The campus’ other main structure, the nearby 59,200-square-foot Faculty of Theology and Philosophy building and library, will open its doors in January 2006, said Dr. Jeffrey Wills, UCU vice-rector.

by Zenon Zawada, Kyiv Press Bureau