Faithful Hope: Religion and Resilience in Ukraine

This essential panel explores Ukraine’s religious pluralism, where faith galvanizes democratic resilience rather than division. Experts analyze “hope as a discipline” and interfaith solidarity, revealing how historical resistance weaponized spiritual energy into a powerful civic engine. Discover why Ukraine’s pluralistic landscape provides an indispensable global model for modern democratic endurance.

Experience the Event

Presented by The Nanovic Institute for European Studies

Speakers include:

Anna Bisikalo (Harvard): “Emergence from Underground: Hope and the Movement to Legalize the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church”
José Casanova (Georgetown): “The Religious Foundations of the Sociological Miracle of Ukraine’s Vibrant Civil Society”
Andriy Kurochka (UCU): “Faith and Resilience: Ukraine’s Marathon for Life”
Catherine Wanner (Penn State): “Interfaith Mediation and Hope in Wartime Ukraine”

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:

Yury P. Avvakumov is the Archbishop Demetrios College Associate Professor of Byzantine Theology in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He specializes in medieval church history and theology, with a focus on relations between the papacy and Byzantine Christianity, and in Ukrainian and Russian religious history and theology. He is also broadly engaged with the history, ecclesiology, and liturgy of Byzantine-rite Christianity in communion with Rome from its medieval beginnings to the present day.

He graduated in Classics from St. Petersburg University and in Eastern Orthodox Theology from St. Petersburg Orthodox Theological Academy in Russia. In 2001, he received PhD in Catholic Theology from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Before coming to Notre Dame in 2010, he served as Dean of Humanities and the founding Chair of the Department of Classical, Byzantine and Medieval Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. Currently, he serves as a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission. He is also the founder and editor of the book series “Eastern Catholic Studies and Texts” published by the Catholic University of America Press. Prof. Avvakumov has held major fellowships from the Henry Luce Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Meet the Speaker: Anna Bisikalo

Anna Bisikalo is a scholar of modern eastern European history. She specializes in postwar resettlement processes and the experiences of religious communities. A Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University under the mentorship of Dr. Serhii Plokhy, her dissertation focuses on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Anna holds a dual B.A. in International Relations and Russian & East European Studies from Wesleyan University, where she authored a thesis on women’s activism in independent Ukraine. As a 2023–2024 Fulbright U.S. Student grantee, she conducted dissertation research in Lublin, Poland, advancing her expertise in historical and cultural

Meet the Speaker: José Casanova

José Casanova is a distinguished sociologist specializing in religion, globalization, and secularization. He is a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and professor emeritus in Sociology and Theology. Casanova holds advanced degrees in sociology and theology, including a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research. His groundbreaking book, Public Religions in the Modern World (1994), is considered a seminal work in the sociology of religion. An award-winning scholar, his recent research explores transnational religion, migration, and the impact of globalization on cultural and religious diversity.

Meet the Speaker: Andriy Kurochka

Andriy Kurochka is the Head of the Development Department and Director of Art Projects at Ukrainian Catholic University. He holds a degree in mathematics from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theology from the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). Since 2023, he has pursued doctoral studies in pastoral theology. Serving as head of the Development Department and director of art projects at UCU since 2021, he combines leadership with creativity. A deputy in the Lviv City Council since 2020, he also serves as secretary of the Youth, Sports, and Culture Deputy Commission.

Meet the Speaker: Catherine Wanner

Catherine (Cathy) Wanner is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History, Anthropology, and Religious Studies at Penn State University. She earned her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Columbia University and has been a faculty member at Penn State since 1996. Her research focuses on the politics of religion, secularism, and human rights in the former Soviet Union, particularly Ukraine. Dr. Wanner has authored several books, including Burden of Dreams: History and Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine. She has received numerous awards, such as the 2020 Distinguished Scholar Prize from the Association for the Study of Eastern Christianity. In 2019–20, she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

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