A Conversation on Cultivating Hope in Ukraine

Join Archbishop Borys Gudziak, who is Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and President of Ukrainian Catholic University, to discuss how to build hope in Ukraine. He is joined in conversation by Rory Finnin, professor of Ukrainian Studies from the University of Cambridge and recipient of the 2024 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies.

This event also featured remarks from Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, Ambassador Oksana Markarova, a member of the Ukraine Mission to the U.S., Bishop Kevin Rhoades, Bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, and Taras Dobko, Rector of Ukrainian Catholic University.

Revolutions of Hope: Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine is a collaboration between Notre Dame’s  Nanovic Institute, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, and Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). The conference, hosted at the University of Notre Dame in March 2025, focused on the positive and corrective response to this destruction, exploring reasons for hope, sources of hope, and the politics and ethics of hope in Ukraine. How is hope powerful or even revolutionary? How does it encourage resilience and recovery? And, above all, how can we build and promote the integral development of hope in Ukraine? The conference explored the concept, dynamics, and practices of hope through keynote addresses, panel discussions, the arts, and liturgical observances. For more information visit the event website.

Co-sponsors included:

• Department of German, Slavic, and Eurasian Studies
• Kellogg Institute for International Studies
• Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
• Notre Dame Democracy Initiative
• Notre Dame Global
• Office of the President, University of Notre Dame
• The Program of Creative Writing
• Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
• Ukrainian Catholic University