ATLANTA — Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) will present its Faith and Culture Award to Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia on Friday, June 21, at the annual Catholic Media Conference held this year at the Marriott Buckhead and Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2002, Archbishop Gudziak founded Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, as a laboratory to sow the seeds of civil society in Ukraine rooted in the values of the democratic West and the Catholic Church’s humanist tradition and social teaching. The university was built on the foundations of the Lviv Theological Academy, founded by the Venerable Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky and shuttered by the Red Army in the waning days of World War II.

Today, even as Ukraine fights to preserve its freedom and integrity, the university hosts annually about 1,500 students from throughout the ravaged country who study in one of six faculties: theology, humanities, social sciences, health services, applied sciences, and business.

“For centuries, the lands that today make up Ukraine were under various foreign powers, e.g., Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Imperial Russia,” wrote the archbishop in the pages of ONE magazine after the events in Maidan Square in 2014. “Throughout these centuries of statelessness, the church has been a singular thread of historic continuity and a refuge of dignity for the Ukrainian soul.”

CNEWA is presenting its Faith and Culture Award to Archbishop Borys for his constant promotion of the innate dignity of every child of God, especially in this time of fear, anger, and rage.

“God is working through all of this,” he said to CNEWA’s president, Monsignor Peter I. Vaccari, weeks after Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. The horrors unfolding in Ukraine and witnessed in real time on television and computer screens around the world, “are reinforcing for all the realization of the God-given dignity of all human beings, the need for peace and justice, and the rule of law.

“Be not afraid,” he urged Catholic media in that same interview, “to protect the innocent. … We have before us a clear objective, a moral reckoning as the story of David standing against Goliath unfolds before all the world to see.”

CNEWA established its Faith and Culture Award in 2022. Past recipients include Carl A. Anderson, past supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus; Most Rev. William F. Murphy, bishop emeritus of Rockville Centre; and John J. Studzinski, advocate for survivors of human trafficking.

An initiative of the Holy See, CNEWA works in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India, and Eastern Europe, always for, through, and with the Eastern churches. Founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926, CNEWA rushes aid to displaced families; provides health care to the most vulnerable; assists efforts to care for the marginalized, especially children, elderly, and those with special needs; funds church-run initiatives preventing trafficking and programs that rehabilitate, counsel and heal survivors; and supports the education and formation of priests, religious sisters and lay leaders.

CNEWA is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States by the State of New York. All contributions are tax deductible and tax receipts are issued. Donations can be made at cnewa.org; by phone at 800-442-6392; or by mail, CNEWA, 1011 First Avenue, New York, NY 10022.